Demigod Empire
by Ropoleader
Summary: As we all know, the Olympian Pantheon can be a bit... stubborn. While they sometimes adapt to new cultures, they don't always update their morals. It's only a matter of time before things blow up, especially when they continue testing the patience of some of the strongest demigods of our time...
1. Chapter 1

_All rights belong to Rick Riordan._

* * *

 **Percy**

"Once again, you have impressed us with your bravery and skills in battle!" Zeus' voice echoed around the throne room on Olympus, drawing Percy out of his thoughts and back into the present. The Seven – well, now the Six – had finished their big quest. Gaea was scattered, never to reform (never being a loose term as far as he was concerned), the Greeks and Romans had an alliance (which was admittedly very shaky due to the whole violently trying to kill each other thing), and there hadn't been a new prophesy forecasting his doom again (definitely not due to the Oracle being stolen).

On top of all of this, Leo was presumed dead, as even he and Festus couldn't logically have survived the giant fireball that had disintegrated the primordial they had been fighting, and the gods had only helped for the briefest of moments in the original Olympus, not even having the decency to properly transport them to Camp to fight the big battle.

All in all, not his most successful adventure.

But, apparently the gods were pleased, because they had pulled them out of the cleanup and their grieving to be rewarded. Naturally, this needed to be preceded by immortal boasting but who was Percy to judge other than the person who saved their sorry butts twice in the last few years?

"… first to you, Hazel Levesque." Hazel looked like she was resisting the urge to fan her face at the attention. "You may have any one thing you wish for, be it found reasonable by this council." Zeus finished and looked at her expectantly.

"I… um…" She cleared her throat nervously. "Could I not have to return to the Underworld? I may be removed from this time period, but I've grown to like it." She glanced at Frank as she said this and flushed slightly. Percy grinned; he had seen that they would be a good couple from the moment he met both of them back at Camp Jupiter.

Zeus frowned and turned to Hades, who was standing by Hestia near the hearth. "She is Pluto's daughter, yes? I assume he has an opinion on this."

Hades closed his eyes for a moment, eyebrows knit in concentration. He shook his head and opened his eyes. "He claims to have no knowledge of her escaping the Underworld."

Zeus turned back to her before he could see, but Percy could swear he saw Hades' eyes twinkle with mischief for a moment. "Since that seems to not be an issue, is there anything else you would wish for?"

Hazel was smiling at her father when Zeus addressed her the second time and started at his statement. She flushed and thought hard for a moment, then looked back up to the king of the gods. "Could I get some training on Mist magic?" she asked shyly. Zeus nodded and turned to Hermes.

"Tell Hecate her services are needed in the near future." Hermes nodded and jot down the note on a pad of paper he summoned. Satisfied, Zeus turned to Frank. "Frank Zhang, to you we also grant one wish." Without hesitation, Frank asked for his stick curse to be lifted. There was a good deal of deliberation over this, which Percy found unfair, but in the end they agreed. Jason was officially appointed Pontifex Maximus and given a watch by Hermes that would allow him to teleport between both camps and Olympus to help with the job, and Piper was appointed as his second in command. Percy smiled bitterly to himself at the ease with which their relationship was guarded. _I guess having your mother be the goddess of love helps,_ he thought.

Finally, Zeus turned to Annabeth and him. "And finally, Annabeth Chase and Perseus Jackson, who have defended Olympus twice now. Given what happened the last time you two were here - " Percy met Zeus' glare evenly - "we will only be offering you a wish like the others." He sat back in his throne and looked expectantly at them, though Percy thought he looked more like he was trying to hold back a grimace. Annabeth turned to him.

"What are you thinking?" she asked. Percy thought for a moment.

"Well, Hades and Hestia deserve at least a spot on the council, if not proper thrones... Why, what do you want?"

Annabeth grimaced. "I have no idea."

Percy thought again and grinned as an idea came to him. "Well, if you want to get them their thrones back I have something that could be fun."

Annabeth gave him a confused look but shrugged. "As long as I get to keep you, I suppose I don't need anything else, but your idea better not get us into more trouble."

Percy put a hand over his heart in mock pain. "You wound me with your words, Wise Girl."

She just rolled her eyes and turned back to the increasingly impatient Lord of the Sky. "I wish for Hades and Hestia to be granted the thrones they deserve and a place on this council." Annabeth held her head high under Zeus' suspicious glare, and after a moment he grunted in annoyed consent.

"If the council agrees..." Zeus clearly was hoping his fellow Olympians wouldn't, but to his dismay they nodded in support. He sighed. "So be it. Hephaestus, I assume I can trust you to design and build them?"

"Naturally," Hephaestus grumbled roughly. Hades and Hestia looked pleased and both flashed a quick smile in Annabeth's direction. Zeus nodded and turned wearily to Percy, motioning for him to speak his request. Percy took a deep breath before speaking.

"If it's okay with all of you, I'd like one personal request from each of you to claim at any point after we're done here." Percy hastened to explain as most of the gods (and his fellow demigods) sent him astonished and/or outraged looks. "Nothing earth shattering, I promise, just small favors or help with things I could do myself but would be easier with godly help."

Before Percy could get blasted, Poseidon spoke. "You ask much of us, my son." The god stared at Percy, his expression unreadable. Percy rolled his eyes.

"If anyone here has reason to doubt someone else's sincerity it would be me, considering all of the promises you made to me last year that haven't been fulfilled," Percy paused and met the angry glares from around the room, backing off only when Annabeth smacked his arm, "but if it will calm your nerves I swear on the Styx that none of my requests will be in excess of what is reasonable." Thunder rumbled around the room at his oath but none of the Olympians relaxed. Exasperated, Percy turned to his friends only to be met with looks of incredulity and concern for his well-being. _I suppose Romans try to act more properly than I have been_ , Percy thought to himself, grimly amused. As the council debated, he turned back to Zeus and watched him expectantly, tuning out the arguments to focus on Zeus' expression. After what felt like forever but was probably less than ten minutes – _thanks ADHD –_ the gods finally met his gaze.

"We will grant your requests _only_ because of your loyalty and your oath," Zeus grumbled, shooting a glare at Poseidon as he did. He refocused his gaze on Percy. "But be warned, we will hold you to your words. Any request that we see as unreasonable will be refused."

Without breaking eye contact, Percy nodded curtly. "That's as fair as I can expect, I suppose. Thanks." He stepped back and grabbed Annabeth's hand, ignoring both the Olympians and demigods staring at him.

Zeus cleared his throat. "Well, if we are done here, congrats and enjoy the celebrations for winning again." Percy scowled and Annabeth gripped his hand tighter, but Zeus waved his hand before he could express his thoughts and left in a flash of lightening. Some of the other Olympians took this as their cue to leave and flashed out as well. Ares nodded to Frank before flashing out while Aphrodite came up to Piper and Jason and crushed them in a massive hug, squealing. Percy noticed Hazel head over to where Hades – no, Pluto now – stood by the hearth waiting, a small smile on his face. Percy squeezed Annabeth's hand briefly as he saw Poseidon and Athena start towards them.

"Did you want to split up for this?" Percy asked Annabeth softly. She shook her head emphatically.

"I'm not letting you out of my sight again," she murmured back. "Besides, my mother can deal with it after sending me on that cursed quest." Percy rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb and nodded in understanding. As their parents neared, Athena scowled at Percy. He rolled his eyes and turned to his father.

"Hey dad." Poseidon smiled at Percy and nodded to Annabeth, who returned the gesture.

"Hello Perseus, Annabeth."

"Hello Poseidon, mother," Annabeth replied, nodding to Athena as well. Percy held back a smirk at the miffed expression on Athena's face at being greeted after her rival.

"Daughter," Athena nodded back, ignoring Percy.

"You have done well yet again," Poseidon rumbled proudly. "I am glad to call you my son Perseus, and I am glad that you have someone such as Annabeth to help you."

Percy smiled. "Feels like I'm helping _her_ more often than not." Poseidon laughed as Annabeth elbowed his side at the comment. Athena merely scoffed.

"As it should be. Without her you'd be dead one hundred times over by now," she stated haughtily.

"And without Perseus we would have been defeated more than once," Poseidon responded. Athena pressed her lips together angrily but was cut off before she could retort to the statement.

"Did you just come over here to argue or did you want to say something to us?" Annabeth interrupted, annoyance clear in her tone. Percy looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

"I thought I was supposed to be the impolite one?" he asked, amused. Annabeth elbowed him in the side again but didn't break eye contact with her mother. Athena stared back for a moment before sighing and rubbing her temples. Percy thought the gesture looked more annoyed than tired.

"Congratulations on winning the war and surviving again. I am… proud of the resourcefulness you showed during your trials," Athena said. She quickly spun away and left before either of the two demigods could respond. Annabeth gripped Percy's hand tightly.

"An olive tree isn't even that cool," Annabeth muttered angrily. "She should invented pizza or something." Percy and Poseidon both quirked an eyebrow at her before the god burst out laughing yet again.

"Perhaps for one of Athena's spawn you aren't that bad," Poseidon stated jollily after he calmed down, winking at Annabeth. He started to walk away but Percy quickly dropped Annabeth's hand and caught up to him.

"Hey dad," Percy started unsurely. Poseidon stopped and turned to him, amusement still sparkling in his eyes.

"Yes?"

"I was wondering if maybe you could help with my first request?" Poseidon's expression immediately became more serious.

"What did you have in mind, son?" Percy rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"Well, I wanted to meet with Tyson about something, and I know Annabeth would be ecstatic at the chance to see Atlantean architecture, so… I was wondering if maybe we could come visit sometime?" Percy finished hopefully.

Poseidon frowned thoughtfully. "I suppose if… well then I would need… but that might…" He continued to mutter quietly to himself as Percy looked on optimistically. Finally, Poseidon sighed and met Percy's gaze. "Amphitrite will not be happy with me, but we can make it work."

Percy took a relieved breath. "Thanks dad. This means a lot to me."

"Of course," Poseidon smiled back. "I'll let you know when I have everything in order for your visit." Percy flashed his own grin and waved as he headed back to where Annabeth stood waiting. She grabbed his hand when he got close enough but didn't acknowledge his presence otherwise. Percy followed her gaze and smirked as he realized she was staring at the columns by the doors.

"Second guessing your designs?" Annabeth shook her head and sighed.

"No. I didn't finish everything before you went missing and I guess they got impatient and did it themselves." Percy caught the tired resignation in her tone and frowned.

"But you were doing some cool stuff!"

"Well of _course_ I was," Annabeth grinned at him for a second, "but it's too late to add anything now. I'm sure dear old mom finished whatever was left." Percy pulled her into a hug as they stood there for a moment, waiting on their friends to be ready to head back to camp.

"Someday you'll build something even better, I'm sure," Percy mumbled. He kissed the top of her head and straightened up. "But for now, we've got a camp to rebuild, so get your big brain working, Wise Girl." Annabeth rolled her eyes and shoved him lightly before moving to regroup with the rest of the heroes. He smiled at the implied _Seaweed Brain_ and followed after his girlfriend, already planning how to use the rest of his requests.


	2. Chapter 2

_All rights belong to RR._

* * *

 **Percy**

It was a week after the end of the war and Percy was finally heading into New York City to go home. He had Iris Messaged his mom the first night back at Camp Half-Blood to let her know he was alive, but as emotional as that was, it wasn't the same as actually being there. This was the first chance he had had to leave camp and he gladly took it. The cleanup was done for now and they had started to plan out repairs, so Percy had asked Chiron if he could leave Camp for the day.

Chiron had agreed readily. He knew that Percy would have just left without permission if he had said no.

Annabeth had come with him. The younger campers had assumed it was because of the temporary rule of not being alone in the outside world, but the rest of the Argonauts knew it was because of the nightmares. Percy grimaced at the thought. Annabeth glanced at him for a moment before squeezing his hand and turning back to the window of the camp van.

"I just wish they would have calmed down after we finished the quest," Percy murmured, his tone heavy with resignation. Annabeth returned her gaze to him.

"Unfortunately, our luck isn't that good," she replied. Percy appreciated that she knew exactly what he was talking about. They seemed to be able to read each other without even looking recently, which had the Aphrodite cabin in fits. Percy chuckled lightly at the thought and rest his head on Annabeth's shoulder.

After what felt like a thousand traffic lights and a flight of stairs later, Percy found himself staring at the door to his mom's apartment. _Home_ , he thought. _Finally._ He reached into his pocket for his keys...

"Is something the matter?" Annabeth asked him after a moment of him staring at the door with his hand in his pocket. Percy closed his eyes and hit his head on the door.

"I left my keys in my cabin," he muttered, annoyed. Annabeth looked at him blankly for a moment before bursting out laughing. Percy quirked a smile at how the sound echoed in the hallway. He had missed her laughter.

"Seaweed Brain," she sighed while wrapping an arm around him affectionately, "what am I going to do with you?"

"Hopefully everything." Percy didn't realize he said that out loud until he noticed the slight blush on Annabeth's cheeks. His face reddened as well, but he didn't take back the statement. After a few seconds of silence, Annabeth smiled softly.

"I'd like that," she said softly. Percy grinned, pulling his head off the door and giving her a quick kiss. He turned back to the door and frowned.

"Well, should I knock or should we run around to the fire escape like old times?" Annabeth thought for a moment, but before she could respond the door opened. Percy started to look back but didn't even turn all of the way before his mom had tackled him in a hug. He stumbled a bit and grunted at the pressure but hugged her back just as tightly. He knew she was crying by the wetness on his shirt but didn't realize he was as well until he saw the tears rolling off of her hair.

After a moment she pulled away and studied him. Once she saw the tattoo, she frowned. "You leave for eight months and decide to get a tattoo? I thought I raised you better than that." Percy couldn't help it. He burst out laughing at the remark, wiping the last few tears from his eyes.

"I missed you too, mom." She gave him a watery smile and turned to Annabeth, holding out her arms as she did so. Annabeth quickly hugged her as well. It was at this moment that Percy realized he'd missed something important.

"Uh, mom?" Sally released Annabeth and turned to look at him. "Is there something you need to tell me?" She glanced down at her swollen abdomen and blushed.

"I'm pregnant?" she smiled nervously. Percy just stared at her for a moment, his brain trying to catch up with the news. Once it did, a huge grin spread across his face. He beamed at his mom and turned to Annabeth.

"I'm gonna be a big brother!" he exclaimed loudly, picking her up and spinning her around. She giggled and smacked his arm.

"Yes you are, now put me down!" Percy relented and turned back to his mom.

"That's great! Congrats, mom." She smiled at him and turned to go back inside.

"Come on, Percy. We have a _lot_ of catching up to do." Percy nodded in agreement and followed Sally back into the apartment, stopping in the doorway and looking around in wonder.

 _I can't believe I'm actually back,_ he thought. Percy took a deep breath, smiling at the lingering scent of fresh baked cookies and fresh ink that always seemed to be present. A quick glance around the hallway and into the living room showed that not much had changed during his absence, a fact he was extremely grateful for. The only difference he saw was a few more pictures on the walls and a prevalence of tissue boxes, which he felt a bit guilty about. Percy turned to Annabeth as she grabbed his hand again and smiled. He felt relaxed for the first time in a long time, and it seemed that she did too, based on the smile she flashed back at him.

As they followed his mom into the kitchen, they heard a crash. With a quick glance at each other, they drew their weapons and rushed to the kitchen to see Sally crossing her arms and glaring at the shattered remains of a bowl and a large puddle of oil. "Everything alright, Mrs. Blowfis?" Annabeth asked cautiously. Sally looked up at them and grimaced guiltily as she saw their weapons drawn.

"Yes, dears, I'm fine. Just clumsy, apparently," she muttered. "And I've told you a thousand times, it's just Sally, Annabeth!" Annabeth quirked an unsure smile and strapped her sword back to her belt, already moving to help clean up the mess. Percy refused to release her hand though, still unsettled and not willing to relinquish contact. Annabeth glanced back at him and her face softened as she stepped back to give him a kiss on the cheek.

"It's fine, Percy. Just a broken dish." Percy took a deep breath and lowered his sword.

"Sorry," he said softly. Annabeth dropped his hand and moved again to go clean up as Percy just waved his hand, the oil leaping through the air into the sink. Percy's mom just stared at him, surprised, while Annabeth continued picking up the broken pieces of the bowl unfazed. Capping _Riptide_ with a wince, Percy sat heavily at the kitchen table. After a moment, Sally moved to sit across from him, reaching for his hand across the table with a concerned look on her face.

After looking at his face for a moment, Sally sighed. "I don't suppose you're ready to tell me why you can suddenly control liquids that aren't water?" Percy clenched his eyes shut as images of Akhlys drowning on her own poisons and tears flashed through his head, fought the rage and the pain and the misery and the desire to lash out in pain and to destroy everything keeping him down in this hellhole and –

"Percy!" He blinked and shook his head as his thoughts cleared. He looked up to see Annabeth above him, looking down in concern, then across the table at his mom who looked at him with a mixture of fear and sorrow. He noticed the sink exploded, the spray of water leaving a film on everything in the room as the last gusts of some wind settled down. "You need to let go of the table, Percy." Annabeth's voice. Percy looked down to see his hands clamped onto the edge of the table, cracks webbing from his grip across the table.

Percy lay his head in his arms and cried.

It took a while before Percy finally felt he had vented enough of his bottled up emotions to be able to hold a conversation again without blowing up more plumbing. After his sobs quieted down he dried everything off and apologized to his mom, who tried her best to look unconcerned with his current state. As awful as he felt about pretty much ruining the good vibes of coming home, he felt a lot lighter now that he had finally gotten his emotions off his chest. He had been fighting past the pain for so long, he was kind of surprised the dam hadn't broken before now.

As he sipped at the hot chocolate his mom had made him at some point during his breakdown, he finally felt at peace. He had made it through two separate wars and Great Prophesies with Annabeth by his side, and while they had been terrible and the scars would probably never completely heal, he thought that maybe the rest of his life could be pretty great.

As his mom came back from the door with Paul in tow, he smiled widely. He was home, he still had his soon-to-be-bigger family, and for the moment, he was safe. What more did he really need?


	3. Chapter 3

_All rights to RR._

* * *

 **Percy**

It was the morning after Percy and Annabeth returned to his home and the Jacksons were sitting around the table enjoying a relatively quiet breakfast. _Well_ , thought Percy, _the Jacksons plus one Miss Chase, but she'll be a Jackson too, soon enough._ He smiled to himself at the thought and squeezed his girlfriend's hand before reaching for his mug of coffee.

"It's still hard to believe you're actually drinking coffee," Paul stated dryly. "I would think the caffeine would drive your ADHD insane."

Percy shrugged. "Somedays it does, but at this point it usually just helps us wake up like everyone else."

"Leo on coffee _would_ have been an ADHD nightmare, though," Annabeth said, looking at Percy with a mixture of sadness and humor. Percy shared a moment of silence with her before snorting in amusement.

"Please, Leo was an ADHD nightmare _without_ anything. I doubt caffeine would have made a difference." Sally looked at him, amused, as Paul warily eyed the almost-full mug Percy had waved around while talking.

"You're lucky you're hydrokinetic," Paul grumbled. "If I tried to move even half that much while drinking, I'd have an earful from Sally about the mess." Percy smirked and held his mug upside-down over the table before Annabeth smacked his arm. Percy grinned harder and returned his mug to the table.

"Let me drink my coffee in peace! Five hours might be more sleep than I've gotten in a long time, but that doesn't mean it was enough." The table got quiet again and Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Good going, Seaweed Brain," she said sarcastically. "Worry your mother while she's pregnant. The hormones won't blow that out of proportion at all." Paul snorted then looked away innocently when Sally narrowed her eyes at him. Apparently deciding calling out her husband wouldn't be entertaining enough, she turned to Percy.

"Exactly _how_ much sleep have you been getting?" Percy flinched at the too sweet tone of voice his mom was using. He went to answer, then furrowed his brows in thought.

"Uh… honestly, I'm not sure," he responded sheepishly, rubbing his neck in nervous habit. "Normal demigod nightmares suck, but after… _there_ …. well, sometimes it's just easier not to sleep."

Before Sally could start yelling, Annabeth cut in. "Neither of us have gotten a full night's sleep since before T- before the quest." She cleared her throat, but everyone knew why she had stumbled over her words. "Time acts funny in some of the places we were in, and afterwards we couldn't usually get more than three hours without having a nightmare so bad we couldn't fall back asleep."

"Yeah, and that's with us sleeping with each other. By ourselves, we pretty much can't sleep," Percy said. After realizing what he said, he turned bright red, while Annabeth just hit her forehead on the table.

"Why do I keep you around?" she muttered into the tabletop.

Sally looked at them funnily for a moment. "I'm assuming Percy means actually sleeping?"

"Of course!" Percy exclaimed quickly. "We're smarter than that!"

"Besides," Annabeth muttered again, "a small battleship constantly being attacked by monsters and hell itself aren't exactly places that put you in the mood." Paul snorted again before choking his laughter back at his wife's unamused scowl. Percy rolled his eyes fondly and rubbed Annabeth's back as she continued to grumble to herself under her breath.

After a moment of comfortable silence, Paul stood up and went to the sink with his now empty mug of coffee. Percy stood up to go help, but sat back down when Paul gave him an amused scowl. "I could finish those really quick, you know," Percy said, amused.

"Yes, well, I need to earn my keep," Paul joked back, "and besides, you've earned a rest. No more quests, no more monsters, and hopefully no gods popping up out of nowhere, at least for a while."

"Try not to get your hopes up too much," Percy retorted. "I'm just too attractive for them to stay away." He flinched as Annabeth flicked the side of his head, not pausing her conversation with his mom, and Paul shook his head, laughing, and turned to do the dishes properly.

As Percy sat quietly, he smiled to himself. He hadn't realized how much he missed this, and he was starting to realize just how much he wanted to build a home like this with Annabeth. _Well, I've got time to plan,_ Percy thought. _I can IM Tyson for help, and then when we visit Atlantis I can just slip away for a few moments to –_

A bright flash interrupted his thoughts. He grabbed Riptide out of his pocket, eyes closed against the glare, and was jumping at the intruder before the light even died down. He slammed into what felt like a person – _Oh, good, it's a god_ – and pinned them up to a wall with his sword at their throat before opening his eyes to see his father looking at him with a mix of confusion, pride, and fear. He dropped his sword and stumbled back towards the kitchen table, only avoiding tripping due to Annabeth catching him. He ignored his mortal family's stares as he caught his breath, the sudden exertion too much for his still-burned lungs.

"Sorry, Dad," he choked out, reaching for the glass of water Annabeth was already pushing into his hand. The cool water soothed his throat and calmed down his coughing as Poseidon looked at him warily.

"I suppose I should have knocked first," his father stated. "I forget how much you have gone through sometimes."

"Well, that makes one of us," Percy responded. Annabeth squeezed his hand, concerned, and he flashed a small smile at her. She turned to Poseidon and nodded her head in respect.

"What can we do for you?" His mom raised an eyebrow at Annabeth's lack of formality, but Percy just shrugged. Poseidon didn't seem to mind though, as he smiled at his son's girlfriend.

"Today it is what I can do for you." Poseidon smiled at the two while Annabeth looked at Percy confused. The god frowned at the lack of excitement. "Unless you have changed your mind?"

Percy set the glass back down on the table, now empty, and turned his attention back to his father. "I thought it was going to be another month or so." He wasn't sure that it came out quite like a question. Poseidon merely shrugged.

"It worked out for today. We can go whenever you're ready."

"Where exactly are we going?" Annabeth asked. Percy flinched at the threat in her tone. He rubbed his neck nervously.

"Well," he started, "I know how much you're into architecture, and you never get to see all the cool underwater stuff that I get to, so I used my request for dad to get us a visit to Atlantis." Percy squirmed nervously as Annabeth continued staring at him with a blank look, the silence stretching to awkward lengths. Finally, his girlfriend heaved a deep sigh and grinned at him.

"You know, you really are too selfless for your own good sometimes." Annabeth's smiled softened. "But thank you. It means a lot." Percy smiled back at her, then turned his attention back to his father as Annabeth went to go grab her sketchbook.

"Do we need to pack anything or is this a day trip?" Percy asked.

"You two will be back by tonight at the latest. While I managed to get Amphitrite to allow this visit, she was adamant that we not be hosting… mortals," Poseidon replied.

Percy raised an eyebrow at the stumbled phrasing. "You mean she didn't want your illegitimate son and the favored daughter of your rival staining her palace." Poseidon winced and opened his mouth to apologize before Percy waved him off. "It's fine, Dad; I get it. I appreciate you allowing us to visit at all." He turned back to his mom, ignoring the frown still on the god's face.

"We're going to have a real talk about what we can do to help when you two get back, alright?" his mom asked, worry evident in her tone. A wave of guilt hit Percy as he realized just how much his breakdown the night before and his comments this morning had unnerved her. He nodded and gave her a tight hug. Annabeth came back into the kitchen with her bag and her sword strapped to her belt and gave the Blowfises hugs goodbye as well before grabbing Percy's hand and turning to the god of the sea.

Poseidon nodded at Sally and Paul and turned to the demigods. "Alright, close your eyes and brace yourselves; from my understanding, our children do not think very highly of being flashed places." Percy screwed his eyes shut and gripped Annabeth's hand tighter, and with a loud roar of water and a sharp smell of the sea, the world twisted around him and he was gone.


	4. Chapter 4

**_A/N I believe I've found a balance that will work for me in regards to my writing on here, so you can expect an update once a month at most. If we continue to have as many snow and ice days as we have been recently, I'll try to update more frequently. Thanks for following!_**

 _All character rights belong to Rick Riordan, as always._

* * *

 **Percy**

Immediately upon appearing in the throne room of Atlantis Percy retched and Annabeth collapsed. He never would have imagined flashing to be so… _nauseating_. Percy was glad that water helped heal him, as he was sure he'd be worse off than Annabeth anywhere above water –

Percy started as he realized he didn't think about the fact that Annabeth can't breathe underwater and lunged towards her, creating an air bubble as he went. She coughed up some water as Percy helped her to sit up and grimaced.

"Let's never do that again, _ever_ ," she got out between coughs. Percy rubbed her back apologetically and made sure she didn't have any water in her lungs before turning to his dad with a scowl.

"You couldn't have teleported us into an air pocket?" he growled angrily. Poseidon shrugged.

"It did not occur to me. We rarely have visitors who cannot breathe underwater." Percy squinted at the god suspiciously before turning back to Annabeth.

"You alright?" he whispered.

"I think so," she replied, "but let's never do that again." Percy nodded in agreement and helped her up.

"Be careful," he murmured. "I have a bad feeling that that wasn't an accident." Annabeth looked at him sharply but before she could respond Poseidon spoke.

"Ah, good, your guide is here," the god stated, waving towards a merman neither recognized. "Aqual, if you could start by showing the Athenian the common parts of the palace, I need to speak with my son for a moment in private." Percy caught Annabeth's eye and shrugged minutely. She shrugged and motioned to the bubble surrounding her. He nodded to affirm that it would follow her before she pulled out her sketchpad and left with the merman. Percy turned back to his father and raised an eyebrow expectantly. When the god didn't immediately start the conversation, he rolled his eyes.

"What's the matter?" Percy asked bluntly. Poseidon flinched minutely, a motion most demigods would have missed, before clasping his hands behind his back and starting down one of the hallways that encircled the throne room.

"Walk with me." Percy knew better than to think that was a request. He quickly caught up to his father and matched his pace as they meandered through the palace. After a few moments of expectant silence, Poseidon spoke again. "I am wondering what your intentions are with the Athenian." Percy gave him a strange look as the god continued to stare straight ahead. After a moment, Percy snorted derisively.

"No, you know what those are. You're doing this to try to convince me to 'move on' from the daughter of your rival because as much as you want me to be happy, you'd rather I be without her because your pride doesn't like the prospect of your only mortal son betraying whatever reasoning there is behind your fighting." Percy stopped, forcing Poseidon to grudgingly halt and turn to face him.

"You know how important you are to me but-"

"But I'm not important enough for you to let me be," Percy finished bitterly. "You think I couldn't figure out that us not appearing in an air bubble was more than an accident?" Sorrow flashed quickly in Poseidon's eyes and Percy clenched his jaw, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath to keep calm. "I appreciate that you didn't stop me from saving her but you crossed a line. Do so again and you will regret it, my father or not." With that, Percy swam off, not waiting to see his dad's reaction.

While Percy wasn't surprised that his dad didn't approve of his relationship, he never would have expected him to actually try to hurt her. His head was spinning as he wandered somewhat aimlessly through the palace. As he reentered the throne room, his head cleared and his irritation peaked. No, he _could_ believe it.

"No matter how much I tell myself my dad's different, he's still a god. He can be just as bad if not worse than the rest of Olympus when he wants to be. Just because I haven't seen him act like that before doesn't mean he never does." Percy muttered to himself. The water around him swirled, its churning matching the demigod's emotions. As Percy's eyes caught sight of his father's throne, he grit his teeth.

Raising his voice to a more normal speaking level, he spoke at the coral adorned seat of power. "Because I believe in second chances, I'll forgive you this time, father. You of all deities should understand where my loyalty comes from," he glared at the throne as his voice darkened, "and you of all deities should know what happens when that loyalty is betrayed. Prove me wrong. Be better than your fellow gods." With that parting statement, the demigod left the room, intent on completing the second reason for his requested visit to Atlantis.

After asking around the palace for a bit, Percy found himself getting crushed in a hug by Tyson outside the forges. "I missed you too big guy, but you're gonna break my ribs!" Percy grunted out. Tyson smiled sheepishly and let him go.

"Sorry brother. I missed you!" Percy smiled up at him genuinely.

"I missed you too, big guy." He follow Tyson as he led Percy through the forges to his work station, avoiding other cyclopes and boiling patches of water as he went. Even for a heat resistant son of the sea, it was very warm, but compared to drinking liquid fire and being blown out of a volcano, he supposed it wasn't that bad. "How's Ella doing?"

Tyson blushed bright red. "Ella is good. She is working with Rachel on the books now."

"I'm glad she's adjusting well." Percy mercifully dropped the subject. Normally he'd tease his brother, but given the favor he was about to ask for, he figured it'd be hypocritical of him.

"I am too," Tyson replied. He squinted at the sword currently on his anvil, the shrugged and tossed it onto the pile of similar swords next to his station. "You asked for help?"

"Yeah…" Percy started slowly. "I was wondering if you could make something for me?" Tyson's eye lit up.

"Another shield?" He asked excitedly. "Or some armor? Or more fish-ponies for the cabin? Or-" Percy cut Tyson off with loud laughter. Tyson looked at him quizzically. "What is funny?"

Percy shook his head fondly as he calmed down. "Nothing, big guy, I just missed you." He smiled up at his brother, who gave him a confused smile. "No, none of those things this time. It's for Annabeth." Tyson looked at him for a minute before understanding gleamed in his eye.

"You want me to make Annabeth a shield? You can match!" Percy shook his head.

"Not quite… I need a ring."

Tyson thought for a moment. "You are going to propose?" Percy nodded slowly at him. After a moment, Tyson broke out into a wide smile. "Hooray! She will be my sister and we can all have peanut butter together!"

Percy rolled his eyes fondly. "Yeah, sure Tyson."

"I will need lots of shiny metal! And jewels! And-"

"Annabeth tends to like things simpler, Tyson." Percy reminded him gently. Tyson merely waved him off.

"I know brother. It needs to be strong so bad cyclopes won't break it."

"That would be great, yeah," Percy agreed. "Also, I was wondering… can you forge it to be enchanted?" Tyson bit his lip in thought.

"What magic would the pretty ring need?" Percy rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"I, ah, was wondering if you could make it let her breathe underwater like me?" he asked. Tyson looked at him for a moment before nodding his head sharply.

"I will find out how to make the pretty ring let Annabeth visit." Percy let out a sigh of relief.

"Thanks, Tyson, this means a lot to me. I owe you a lot of peanut butter." Tyson's face brightened at this and Percy smiled back just as broadly. "I'll come back when it's done and we can hang out a bit longer, okay?"

"Okay brother!" Tyson turned to his work station and cracked his knuckles. "I will call you when I am done!" Percy nodded and left the forge, heading back to the palace where he was sure Annabeth was pestering the poor merman guide with questions about structural supports and building material costs.

Gods, he loved her.

With a smile on his face, he zoomed through the water, intent on enjoying the rest of the impromptu visit with his Wise Girl.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys,**

 **I know I'm way behind on all of my current stories, so sorry about that. _Pax Olympia_ will get the next update, then _The Moon and Tides_. Thanks to all of you who have followed, favorited, and reviewed my work so far! It means a lot!**

 _All rights belong to RR._

* * *

 **Percy**

Percy grumbled under his breath as he wandered around Olympus looking for a certain goddess of love. "You would think that finding the one goddess that obsesses over your relationship more than anyone else to talk about said relationship would be easy, but no!" The demigod stopped in the middle of the street, looking around in frustration. He ignored a group of giggling nymphs, thinking hard about where he might find Aphrodite or at least someone who could point him in the right direction. _You would think with all the trips I've taken to and from Olympus over the last year ironing out details for New Athens that I would know my way around better_ , he thought to himself.

After a moment, he sighed and grit his teeth. "Ares it is," he said reluctantly as he started off in the direction of the war worshiping temple. After a small hike, the building came into view. Unfortunately, this was not one of the temples that Annabeth had gotten around to finishing, so it was much less aesthetically pleasing than it could be. Percy ignored the gory battle scenes engraved on the walls as he walked between the columns of the entrance, gunning for the rooms past the center statue depicting the war god holding the decapitated head of some old Greek general. Before he got there, a flash reflected off the walls behind him and a wave of anger rolled over the demigod.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" Ares smirked at the expression on Percy's face as he turned around to face the god. "What brings you to my temple, punk?"

"I was looking for your girlfriend, actually," Percy admitted through his clenched jaw. "Figured since she's one of the only people that actually like you, you might know where she is." Ares let out a forced laugh.

"Yeah, well, she's not here, and I don't want you here, so scram," the war god growled. Percy raised an eyebrow, more amused than intimidated.

"And if I don't feel like leaving?" he asked, his hand resting on the outside of the pocket where he kept his sword. Ares' glare intensified.

"What makes you think you have a choice?" A large sword materialized in Ares' grip. "Scram, punk. Or you won't live to regret it."

As angry as Percy usually felt in Ares' presence, he couldn't help but laugh. Smoke began rolling off Ares' glasses. As his laughter died down, Percy drew _Riptide_ and glared at the war god. "I beat you when I was twelve. You honestly think you scare me?"

Ares leveled his sword at the demigod. "I was holding back then. I won't this time." Percy snorted derisively.

"It took facing the embodiment of the Pit to scare me into dropping my sword. A god who's scared of large jars? Pathetic in comparison," Percy boasted. Ares stared at him for a moment, sword drooping to point at the floor for a moment, before his expression hardened. The god hefted his sword back up and began advancing. Percy shrugged. "Don't say I didn't warn you," he said calmly. Ares growled at him and charged.

When Aphrodite walked into Ares' temple a half hour later, she dropped her handbag in shock. Large gashes were torn through the floor and walls, the statue was smashed beyond recognition, and her boyfriend was leaning on his sword, ichor dripping off of him as he glared down the Hero of Olympus, who looked unharmed. Both were breathing heavily.

"What is going on in here?!" Aphrodite shrieked. Ares flinched and lost his balance, toppling to the floor, while Percy didn't visibly react at all other than to kick Ares' sword across the room. As Ares growled and started dragging himself towards his weapon, Percy turned to the love goddess.

"Your boyfriend wanted a rematch." The demigod glanced around the temple before meeting her eyes. "He lost." Ares had recovered his sword at this point and lunged at Percy from behind, yelling and intending to cut him in half. Percy whipped _Riptide_ over his head and sent Ares' sword flying into the nearest wall before spinning and sending Ares flying with a powerful punch. The god's skull cracked against the broken throne in the back of the temple and his body went limp, unconscious. Percy nodded approvingly and capped his sword, turning back to the horrified Aphrodite.

"I was looking for you before this mess, actually." Percy smirked as the goddess flinched. He started walking out of the temple, Aphrodite pausing for a moment before following him.

She cleared her throat a few times before asking him, "Whatever for?"

Percy glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. _Her powers must not be working at the moment,_ he thought to himself. _She looks vaguely like Annabeth, but I'm not drooling over her like the last time we met. Guess I scared her more than I thought._

Out loud, he said, "I think I've decided on what I want my request from you to be, if you're ready to hear it." At this, Aphrodite perked up.

"Oooh, let me guess! You want help proposing to Annabeth!" Before Percy could answer, she continued. "No, wait, you want help wedding planning! Or even better, practice for your honeymoon," the last statement being said in a sultry tone as she wiggled her eyebrows at the demigod, who merely frowned at her.

"Actually, I was going to ask you to leave us alone." Aphrodite froze before seeming to deflate.

"You… what?" she asked in a quiet voice. Percy almost felt bad for her. Almost.

"I know how you work," he started to explain. "You already promised to make my love life complicated, and given all the crap we've been put through already, I'd rather stop any crazy plans now. We just got out of a second war, we don't need to repeat the Trojan War too."

Aphrodite pouted, which would have made most men lose all train of thought. Again, Percy was left wondering why he wasn't really affected. "Everyone keeps blaming me for that war."

"It _was_ your fault."

"Paris and Helen were meant to be together!"

"You literally threatened her when she complained about being dragged away from her home and husband," Percy stated dryly. At Aphrodite's surprised look, he shrugged. "I don't always tune Annabeth out when she's ranting about history and stuff."

"How cute!" Aphrodite cooed. "You can't pay attention in school, but you'll remember what she talks to you about."

"Yeah, well, I don't have to worry about freaking out mortals with constant panic attacks with her," Percy joked bitterly. "There's a reason we finished school through camp and not in the mortal world, but that's beside the point. I'm asking that you not make our love life any more unnecessarily complicated just because you think it's entertaining. We've gone through enough."

Aphrodite frowned. "Well, you did already fall for her. I suppose I can't really top that." Percy gave her a hard look.

"The last person to remind me of T- of down there was Ares," Percy stated. "You really want to test my PTSD like that?" Aphrodite flinched and shook her head quickly no. As they had been talking, they had made their way back towards the main streets of Olympus, and rounding the corner they saw Athena making her way towards them.

"Speaking of unnecessary complications," Percy grumbled under his breath. "No more crazy love plots. Got it?"

Aphrodite sighed heavily. "Very well. I shall try to restrain myself." She winked at him. "If you ever get bored with her, though, you know where to find me." Percy grimaced.

"Yeah, hard pass on that. You're already cheating on your husband, and frankly, I'm not interested. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go fight my future mother in law." Percy continued down the road, leaving a shocked love goddess behind him. _That was a strange sentence, even for me._ He shook his head to clear his thoughts as Athena approached him.

"Perseus," she started. "How… strange to see you on Olympus, talking with Aphrodite no less. Am I to assume you are having relationship problems with my daughter? I am not surprised, she really is too good for you, and –"

"Absolutely not," Percy interrupted angrily. "But since you're here, I may as well tell you my request for you too."

Athena sniffed irritably. "If you think I am just going to allow you to propose to my daughter then you are mistaken."

Percy smiled mirthlessly. "First off, I really don't give a Minotaur's crap about your opinion on Annabeth and I's relationship. She's her own person, and unlike you, she tries not to judge people based on who they're related to. Second, if you think her opinion of you is so high that she would actually care if you condone our relationship or not, you're way more out of touch than I thought."

"How dare you!" Athena seethed. "I am a goddess! You will respect what I –"

"I will respect whatever I please, you overgrown Fury!" Percy snapped back. Athena's face flushed a deep, angry red. Percy was vaguely aware of the growing crowd watching their argument, but he couldn't find it in himself to care.

"I should have disintegrated you long ago, Sea Spawn," Athena hissed.

"And where would you be then? Without me to defend you, Kronos would have sent you all to Tar-" Percy bit his tongue, trying to prevent the shaking even thinking of his time _down there_ sometimes caused. Athena however held no such qualms.

"If you are so high and mighty, you might learn to not be afraid of a name," the goddess spit out. Her smirk grew as she noticed how pale the demigod was at the moment. "Clearly the only reason you survived was because my daughter dragged you out."

Percy's blood roared in his ears, his teeth clenched in fury. "If you're so sure you could do better, why don't you go visit there yourself?"

"Unlike you, I am not so stupid as to throw myself into the Pit," Athena replied dryly.

"And unlike you, I actually value Annabeth," Percy snapped back, "so you will listen to me. My request is not for you to give us your blessing, because such a thing would be worthless. My request for you is that you apologize to Annabeth for making her fix a problem _you_ created thousands of years ago."

"Excuse me?!" Athena cried.

"If it wasn't for your arrogance towards Arachne and your grudge against Rome, she never would have had to track down that stupid statue and we wouldn't have fallen!" Percy shouted. "So suck up your pride and give a damn about someone else for once!"

Percy spun around and stormed through the crowd towards the elevator off Olympus. As he slowly calmed down on the way, the winds slowed down and the clouds he unknowingly summoned broke apart, the sun shining weakly through the dissipating turbulence. He was mostly calm and almost to the doors when he heard fast movement close behind him. Quickly, he dropped and spun a kick low to the ground, tripping the figure as they caught up to him and jumping them with his sword to their throat before they could blink. As Percy realized who he was threatening, he sighed and recapped his sword.

"Sorry Hermes," he apologized, standing and reaching out a hand to help the nervous messenger god up.

"Of course," Hermes said warily. "You'll have to forgive me; I thought you were your father, based on the storm that was following you."

Percy blinked in surprise. "I didn't know I had summoned one," he said. "Hades, I didn't even know I _could_ summon one by myself."

"Poseidon is known as the Storm Bringer, you know." Hermes shook his head ruefully. "Anyways, I do not have anything for you, so I will leave you be. My apologies for startling you." With that, the god sped off back towards the city of Olympus. The demigod sighed and turned back towards the elevator.

 _What a day,_ he thought wearily. _I've_ got _to get myself under control. I can't keep having this much trouble with just thinking about… Tartarus._ Percy grit his teeth, fighting off the still lingering feelings of dread the place brought on. He sighed deeply and pressed the button to call the lift up. _At least I don't still freak out about using the elevator,_ he thought to himself. With a shrug, he entered the door and pressed the button for the ground floor, trying to figure out what else had to get done that day before he headed back to Camp.


	6. Chapter 6

**I've got the rest of this section of Demigod Empire plotted out, so we're looking at around 6 more chapters before the end of part one! Thanks as always to those of you following and favorited!**

 _All rights belong to RR._

* * *

 **Annabeth**

Annabeth stormed past Peleus, hardly noticing the way the dragon shrunk away from her as she crossed the border into Camp Half-Blood. _I can't_ believe _the nerve of her!_ The demigoddess thought to herself. She had been up on Olympus at her mother's request, curious as to why she was being summoned if there were no repairs left to be made. It quickly became apparent that the oh-so-important meeting was just another attempt at getting her to leave Percy. Annabeth remembered the look of shock on her mother's face when she stated under no uncertain terms that "I will not be leaving the person who helped me survive the mess you put me through, so leave it alone!"

It was almost worth the cost just to be able to surprise the goddess. Prideful Athena may be, but she doesn't usually lose her head like she had that morning.

Annabeth shook her head, trying and failing to rid herself of her frustration. _I just need to work on some designs for a bit_ , she thought. _New Athens has a lot to do still and working usually helps me get past stuff. I'll just swing by the cabin for the latest drafts and go hole up in the Big House for a few hours. It'll be great._

Confident in her train of thought, she was surprised when she rounded the corner to see all of her siblings standing outside of their cabin looking fearfully inside. Worry bubbled up in her as she started imagining all sorts of horrible situations that could cause what she was seeing. Speeding up, she spotted Malcom at the front of the crowd holding a knife at his side.

"What's the matter?" Annabeth asked in greeting. Those who hadn't seen her coming jumped in surprise at her voice, several of the more excitable campers falling down in their haste to turn towards her. Malcom didn't seem to notice though, instead looking relieved at her presence.

"Oh good, maybe you can plan a way to get rid of this.. this.. _monster_ ," he said quickly. "It came out of nowhere right in the middle of the cabin! Freaked out a bunch of the younger kids, nearly scared the pants off of me when they started screaming –"

"What is it?" Annabeth interrupted, palming the hilt of her sword. Malcolm blushed bright red.

"It's… ah… a spider," he murmured, head hanging down in embarrassment. "I know, I know, the Big One's dead, but they're still so… _unsettling_."

Annabeth stared at him a moment blankly before her irritation from the morning bloomed into seething anger. She whirled towards the doorway and barged into the room, ignoring the panicked shouts behind her. Laying eyes on the small spider sitting on the corner of the center table, she raised her hand, bringing it down with a loud _bang_ on the no-longer-threatening arachnid. In the silence that followed, she roughly rolled up the blueprints she was after, tucked them under her arm, and turned to leave the cabin before spotting her siblings starting at her in shock and horror.

Deciding it wasn't worth the effort to respond, she wiped her hand on her jeans, grabbed a pencil case, and pushed through out of the cabin and started towards the Big House. She was certain she'd get a lot more awed looks at dinner than usual, but all she felt was a simmering resentment towards her mother at the problems she created for her kids.

What felt like both an eternity and a few minutes later, she growled in frustration and crumpled up another sketch, roughly throwing it on top of the growing pile in the corner of the room. "Why can't I design one freaking building today?!" She glared at the notebook in front of her as if it would take the blame for her lack of productivity.

"Probably because you're exceptionally angry," a voice said behind her, amused. She whirled around, blade half drawn before her mind caught up. She sighed as she recognized Piper and roughly re-sheathed her sword.

"'Exceptionally' doesn't even begin to cover it," she admitted.

"Want to talk about it?" Piper asked, concerned. Annabeth shrugged.

"Which do you want to hear about first, the fact that my mother is egotistical beyond belief, or that she can't conceive of anyone actually disagreeing with her?" Thunder rumbled overhead at her words. Annabeth glared at the ceiling as Piper eyed her carefully.

After a moment, Piper spoke up. "So… I take it your meeting this morning didn't go very well?"

Annabeth snorted derisively. "That's an understatement. I assumed it would be about some building project, or maybe that she wanted to talk about the Parthenos quest, but _no_ , all she wanted to do was complain to me about Percy and about 'How could you possibly be content with a pathetic spawn of the sea like him?'" Thunder rumbled again, louder this time, and Annabeth scowled. "Just because you're a poor excuse for a maiden goddess doesn't mean that you have an excuse to be completely clueless about how love works!" she yelled at the sky.

Piper stared at her for a moment, face unreadable. "I hate to say it, but you sounded scarily like a sibling of mine instead of an Athenian," she commented. Annabeth rolled her eyes and Piper sighed. "Seriously, Annabeth, you've been in here brooding for, like, five hours. You need to talk about it."

Annabeth blinked, anger forgotten for a moment. "What time is it?"

"Like nine o'clock?" Piper shrugged. "You missed dinner." Annabeth sighed deeply.

"Of course I did." She turned back to the blueprints she had been consulting. "I suppose I should probably give up on this until tomorrow, then?"

"I mean, the campfire's not done yet, and I'm pretty sure I saw Percy save you some food." Piper grinned. "At least _someone_ is remembering to feed you."

"Please, like that Seaweed Brain could ever forget about food," Annabeth joked back to her friend. "I'm sure that as soon as he woke up at the Wolf House last year he was looking for something to eat." Piper rolled her eyes at her.

"Well, let's not keep him waiting then. He'll just stress about you if you don't come and then he'll complain to Jason who will ask me to help and then we'll _both_ have anxious boyfriends." Annabeth laughed loudly at the exposition.

"Yeah, you're probably right." The Athenian turned around and rolled up all of her work supplies. After taking a minute to clean up the workspace, she turned back to Piper. "Alright, let's go."

The walk to the campfire was oddly quiet. There were usually a fair amount of campers who skipped the gathering to fool around on the basketball court or finish some project they were in the middle of, but that night it seemed practically empty. Annabeth chatted with Piper to fill the silence and was relieved to hear the quiet roar of the fire and the sporadic conversations of her fellow demigods as they got closer to the clearing.

Upon breaking through the tree line, a lot of heads turned to see who was just joining the activities, and Annabeth glanced around to see what everyone was up to. Piper chose that moment to yell across the clearing at their boyfriends.

"Yo, Jackson! Tell your girl to stop starving herself!" She grunted as Annabeth elbowed her. Percy looked up from his conversation with Jason and smiled when he saw her, rolling his eyes at the melodramatic way Piper was clutching her stomach.

"You act like she'd listen to me!" he called back, smirking at the mock outrage on Annabeth's face. Piper cackled beside her and she almost elbowed her again. Percy turned around and dug through his backpack for a moment before making an exclamation of triumph and turning back around with something in his hand.

"You should at least eat something, Wise Girl. Here!" He tossed the object across to her, which she caught easily. The rest of the campers suddenly got quiet as she realized what exactly Percy threw to her.

"Uh, Percy?" she called, unsure. Percy raised an eyebrow at her. "You do realize that throwing an apple is essentially a proposal around here?" Annabeth's heart sped up as she saw the twinkle in Percy's eyes.

"Well, of course I know that!" he replied. "I've got a ring, too, if you'd prefer that." Annabeth's thoughts swirled around, brain going at a hundred miles an hour, unable to focus on anything other than Percy's last statement. She was dimly aware of Piper restraining herself beside her and the rapt attention of the rest of the camp on the scene, but her eyes were locked onto her boyfriend's, taking in all of the love (and, admittedly, a fair amount of amusement) in his gaze. After what seemed like a thousand moments compressed into one, she ran across the clearing and threw herself in his arms, ignoring his grunt of surprise as he caught her.

"I take it that's a yes, then?" he murmured in her ear, his breath whispering against her skin.

"Of course it is, you dolt," she responded hotly, tears stinging her eyes. She pulled away from him suddenly. "How long have you been planning this?"

"The proposal? I came up with the idea this afternoon, but I've had the ring for a couple months now-" the rest of his sentence was cut off as she slammed her lips onto his, the rest of camp cheering loudly behind them. She felt Percy smile against her and she tightened her hold on him, not quite believing how ridiculously giddy she felt. After a moment, she heard Clarisse yelling about a second take, and her contact with Percy was broken as the rest of the campers hoisted them up. She locked eyes with her now fiancé and laughed loudly over the crowd, who were now carrying them back to the canoe lake where they started their relationship.

As they sunk to the bottom of the lake, Percy made an air pocket, fishing in his pocket for the ring. As she saw the beautifully engraved silvery teal band, she felt herself tearing up again. "Where did you get this?" she asked, taking the jewelry from him carefully and running her fingers lightly over the pearls embedded in the metal.

"I had Tyson make it," Percy admitted, grinning shyly. "Made out of Atlantean steel, so monsters won't be a problem, and the pearls are enchanted." Annabeth finished slipping on the ring and looked at him confused.

"What possible magic could I possibly need on an engagement ring?" she asked. Percy grinned, and if it hadn't been such a huge moment in their lives Annabeth would have been scared of the pranks that smile usually foretold.

"Magic that does this," he answered. With a rush of water, the air pocket quickly filling with water. For a split second, Annabeth panicked before her brain caught up with the fact that she wasn't drowning. She looked at Percy in shock to see him grinning widely. He gestured grandly at the lake's expanse, suddenly visible to her despite the murky water and the dim light of the moon. "Welcome to my domain!"

When they came back up from the pool hours later, both completely dry, the couple's grins were visible all the way from the Big House.


	7. Chapter 7

**Update: As I've been writing this next part, I realized it would be _way_ longer than the other chapters, so I split it into (as of now) three different chapters. This first part of DE will probably end up closer to fifteen chapters now instead of the ten I originally planned for.**

 **That being said, I was planning on splitting DE into three parts to avoid having one really long fic (~35 chapters), but now I'm having second thoughts. I have a poll up and would really appreciate your feedback on if I should split this story up!**

 **Onto the story!**

 _All character rights belong to Rick Riordan._

* * *

 **Annabeth**

"Duck!" Annabeth called out. Percy threw himself to the ground, the hydra's teeth snapping through the air where he was a moment before. Annabeth would have breathed a sigh of relief if she didn't have her own heads to deal with. Twisting out of the way of one pair of teeth, she slapped away another head with her sword before rolling back out of range to catch her breath for a second. Percy had gotten separated from her during the fight and was coming around the other side of the hydra to her when his eyes widened and he screamed her name. Turning, Annabeth saw a spray of acid flying towards her at speeds she would be unable to dodge.

She'd like to say that in the face of death she came to peace with her life, but all she felt was a simmering resentment towards the life of a demigod. She had saved the world three times now, given the incident with the magicians last month, she'd dealt with four different pantheons now that she'd finally reconnected with her cousin, and she survived freaking _Tartarus_ , all to die by something as simple as a hydra. She locked eyes with Percy one last time before taking a deep breath and preparing herself for the burn of the acid.

It never came.

Percy's eyes burned with furious determination and his hand flung out towards her. Annabeth remembered seeing a similar look in his eyes during the Battle of Manhattan all those years ago when she had taken that dagger from him. The air crackled, and goosebumps rose on her arms. She turned to see the acid floating in front of her. Percy's eyes were locked onto the hydra, who just looked confused at why the acid hadn't melted the demigods yet.

"Acid burns, right?" Percy asked her through clenched teeth as he drew close.

"Yes?" Annabeth replied. "But what does that have to do-" Her eyes widened as she understood what her fiancé was implying.

"Good." He rolled his neck, several cracks resulting from the movement. "I hope this works." He raised his sword and sprinted at the monster. With a squelch, one of the hydra's head flew to the side before the ball of acid flew up and encased the remaining neck. The hydra screeched as smoke rose from the stump, head flailing as they tried to rip Percy to shreds. Riptide was a blur as it deflected teeth and severed heads, Percy manipulating the acid to burn any stumps before more heads could grow. Annabeth watched, frozen, as the son of Poseidon destroyed the beast in a few short minutes, dropping the acid to the ground as the hydra burst into dust.

Suddenly he was hugging her tightly, tears streaming down his face. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he chanted around his sobs. Annabeth awkwardly returned the hug with her sword still in her hand until he calmed down some. As he pulled out of her embrace, he wiped his face.

"I know I said I wouldn't do that again but it was that or watch you die and I would rather you be alive to hate me than die when I could have prevented it," Percy explained, his voice cracking. Annabeth took longer than she cared to admit to put the pieces together.

"You're worried I'll react like I did with Ahklys?" she asked. Percy flinched at the name but nodded. Annabeth sheathed her sword and pulled her fiancé in for another hug. "Percy, you were twisted by the Pit then. You were attacking out of the want to hurt something then. This is different." She pulled back slightly and looked him in the eyes. "Self-preservation is one thing, Seaweed Brain. I just didn't want you to lose yourself."

Percy breathed a sigh of relief and Annabeth felt the tension drain out of his frame. "Okay, good." He let her go and rubbed his face tiredly. "That was exhausting," he complained a few second later. Annabeth rolled her eyes fondly before something occurred to her.

"Didn't you say you summoned a storm on accident the last time you were on Olympus?" Percy gave her a confused look.

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with controlling poison?" he asked.

"Neither of those are powers you _should_ technically have, but you do," she explained, "and both left you pretty tired afterwards." Percy nodded. "So, first, you should probably train those powers so they don't leave you so tired."

"That's… smart, I guess," Percy agreed. "But I'm a little worried at the second point I feel coming. You have your _I'm-making-a-plan_ face." Annabeth made a face at him, too excited about her new theory to be truly annoyed.

"Second, let's figure out how many other powers you could develop."

"Let me get this straight: you think that because Percy is the son of the Stormbringer, he should be able to use similar powers to me?" Jason asked incredulously. Percy shrugged his shoulders as Annabeth nodded.

"Every time he's expanded his powers, it's been while thinking about how it connects to the powers he already has or how it relates to his father," she insists. "I _know_ this will work."

"This is crazy though!" Jason argues. He turned to Percy. "What could you have possibly done to convince her this would work?"

"First off," Percy says calmly, "she's dragging me along, not the other way around. Second, I, ah, might have possibly controlled poison once or twice before?" Jason gave him a disbelieving look. "Alright, look, I'll show you." Percy reached around for his backpack, digging around in it for a few moments. "Where did I put it?"

"Percy," Annabeth cuts in. He turns around to see her holding a pale green vial. "You gave it to me to hold onto so you didn't break it."

"Oh, right! Thanks Wise Girl." Percy took the vial with a grin as Annabeth sighed.

"Seaweed Brain," she muttered.

"Hey, you agreed to marry me," he protested, still grinning a mile wide. Annabeth heaved a dramatic sigh.

"Well, I _suppose_ I shouldn't disappoint Piper. She was very excited to plan the wedding." She tapped her chin mockingly in thought, laughing when Percy made a face at her. Jason coughed lightly and Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"You done flirting?" he teased.

"Never," Percy responded. "But I suppose we can continue with my magic trick." Percy waved the vial in front of Jason's face. " _This_ is a vial of hydra acid." Jason jerked back from the container and Annabeth held back a snicker. "Totally poison, very dangerous, is not supposed to count with the whole water control thing. Too bad I don't care."

Percy flicked the cap off of the vial and wiggled his other hand dramatically over the opening. The acid slowly rose out of the container, slowly twisting and generally looking very creepy. Jason stared in shock as Percy formed the acid into a ball, then a cube, then a snake that snapped its jaw in front of Jason's face. A few droplets splashed onto the ground by Jason's feet, the grass hissing and smoking upon contact with the liquid.

"Okay, okay, I believe you, now put that stuff away!" Jason said in a rush, clearly freaked out by the poison floating so close to his face. Percy smirked and directed it back into the vial, popping the cap back on and promptly handing the container back to Annabeth.

"Now, since Percy usually picks up new skills while trying not to die, you two should probably have a very intense power spar. Throw him around with a tornado or something," Annabeth stated, ignoring Percy's indignant protest in the background.

"If you're sure about this…" Jason replied reluctantly. Annabeth pat her bag.

"I've got plenty of ambrosia if you're worried about getting hurt," she said in mock concern. Jason scowled at her, then closed his eyes and heaved a sigh.

"I'm sure I'm going to regret this. Sorry Perce." He grabbed Percy's arm and flung him towards the beach, enhancing the throw with a huge gust of wind. Jason winked at Annabeth as Percy's cursing reached their ears and flew after him. Annabeth just shook her head in exasperation.

"Boys," she muttered. She slipped the vial back into her bag and started making her way down to the beach at a fairly quick pace, waving to a few demigods as she passed but for the most part thinking about other powers Percy might develop. She stopped short of the beach, though, when she looked up and saw the tornado. "I know that's what I told you to do, Grace," she said to herself, "but that might be a little bit overkill."

She watched as a figure shot out of the funnel into the ocean, a huge splash marking their crash into the water. The tornado died down and Jason landed softly on the sand, laughing as Percy shot towards the shoreline.

"You can do better than _that_ , Kelp Head!" he teased. Annabeth could feel Percy's scowl as he climbed out of the waves.

"You've been spending too much time with Thalia," Percy complained.

Jason shrugged. "What can I say, I enjoy complaining about you to someone who understands." He laughed at Percy's expression and dodged the spray of water sent his way. Percy grumbled to himself a minute more before his expression smoothed to one of determination.

"Alright, let's try again." Annabeth sat down on the edge of the beach as Jason raised his hands, the winds picking up and swirling around the duo. Sand flew around the beach as a new tornado formed, obscuring the two sons of the Big Three from view. After a few moments where nothing seemed to be happening, Percy once again was sent flying out into the bay, and the funnel died down. Jason turned to her tiredly.

"I still don't think this is going to work," he admitted. Annabeth frowned slightly.

"You've only tried twice, and he knows you aren't actually trying to kill him. Give it some time," she replied. Jason gave her a look she couldn't quite figure out the meaning of before turning back to Percy as he returned. After a moment, she shrugged, deeming the strange expression unimportant and pulling a book out of her bag as she settled in to wait.

She was jerked out of the story what felt like a few minutes later by sand pelting her. She whipped her gaze up to see Jason's hand flung out towards her, his gaze locked onto Percy's. She opened her mouth to ask what he was doing but never got the chance, instead shrieking as she was launched up into the air. She caught sight of the shock on Percy's face before a tornado formed around her, picking up sand and cutting off sight of the outside world.

 _I'm gonna_ kill _that Roman!_ she seethed. _I can understand why he might drag me into this, but a little warning would have been nice!_ She wrestled the pages of her book flat before snapping the book shut, hoping it hadn't been damaged in the high winds. Suddenly, the winds in the tornado switched direction, dropping her a few feet before halting her fall. As she was gently lowered to the ground, she prepared a few dozen insults to throw at Jason before the sand fell to reveal Percy looking at her in concern.

"You okay?" he asked, inspecting her for any possible injuries. Annabeth gazed around him in search of Jason for a moment before focusing her attention.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Where's Grace so I can yell at him?" she asked. Percy grinned and pointed out to the water. Confused, Annabeth squinted out into the waves before she made out the shape of Jason swimming back to shore. After a moment, it clicked. "It worked?" she asked Percy excitedly.

"I don't know, Wise Girl," he answered with a smirk, "you tell me?" He held out his hand, a small funnel slowly forming on his palm.

"This is amazing!" The gears in Annabeth's head started spinning. "You actually, consciously developed a new power! Who knows what else you could do? Is this something all demigods can do? Is it just you? Why would it be just you if it is? How about-" Her excited rambling was cut off as Percy pressed his lips to hers. She melted into the kiss, the familiar taste of salt doing nothing to calm the adrenaline running through her.

They broke apart as Jason crawled gasping onto the beach. Annabeth watched in amusement as he lay on his back, panting and weakly glaring up at Percy. "That's so not fair," he complained.

"Hey, I'm just as in the dark about this as you are," Percy replied. "Besides, I'm going to need a lot more practice before I'm anywhere near your level of control." Jason grunted and closed his eyes, laying still in the sand. After a moment, he shot up, wiping a hand over his face.

"Hades!" he swore, ignoring the light rumble of thunder.

"What's the matter?" Annabeth asked him. He looked up at her tiredly.

"I must have lost my glasses somewhere out in the bay," he groaned. "I'm sick of losing them all the time." Annabeth ignored the smirk on her fiancé's face at the statement.

"Well, Percy and I will look for them," she promised, ignoring Percy's protest as well. She started walking towards the waves, Percy trailing after her a moment later.

"You do realize that they don't float, right, Annabeth?" Jason called out. She turned and raised an eyebrow.

"Of course I realize that." Jason gave her a sheepish grin. As she turned back to the waves, she called over her shoulder, "Percy's not the only one with new tricks up their sleeve!" before diving under the waves.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N For those of you following, I had a break through on some later plot I was considering, so I'll be foreshadowing some things to come from here on out! If I manage to pull off what I'm thinking of doing it'll be (hopefully) awesome and not something you've read a hundred times already from different authors. Along those lines, nobody's voted on the poll for splitting this story up or not, so I'll probably delete it soon. I'll let you know what to expect as we get closer to the end of this first part of the story!**

 _Original story rights belong to Rick Riordan, as always._

* * *

 **8 - Annabeth**

It was a few weeks later that the Hunters stopped by camp. They'd regained some of their numbers over the years, but Annabeth could tell that some of the older members still had yet to recover from the deaths of their friends at the hands of Orion. _The problem with being immortal_ , she thought to herself, _is that it takes a lot longer to process things._ She broke out in a huge grin as Thalia came running up to her, grunting as the huntress slammed into her with a hug.

"Annie!" she cried. "It's so good to see you!" As Thalia pulled away slightly to look up at the Athenian, she frowned. "Why are you so tall?"

"It's good to see you too, Thalia," Annabeth spoke with amusement. "And I'm taller than you because I'm older than you."

"Um, no." Thalia stepped back and crossed her arms. "You just… age less gracefully than me." Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Nice pun, Pinecone Face," Percy smirked as he joined the conversation. Thalia froze for a second before glaring at the son of Poseidon.

"I suppose it's good to see you too, Kelp Head." She broke her glare into a grin and pulled her cousin in for a hug as well. Annabeth laughed as she heard the pop of electricity, Percy jumping out of Thalia's embrace with a scowl. Thalia just smirked and turned back to Annabeth. "So, what's new with – what is that?!" Annabeth jumped and spun around, looking for whatever had spooked Thalia so suddenly. When she saw nothing except a few curious campers looking their way, she turned back to the huntress.

"What? What's the matter?" she asked, hand creeping towards the bone sword on her belt. Thalia snatched Annabeth's hand and stared at the engagement ring. Annabeth felt realization sweep over her and then felt an unexpected mix of worry and guilt. After a moment of inspecting the jewelry, Thalia made eye contact with her again.

"Why didn't I hear about this?" the huntress asked forcefully. To anyone else watching, she probably just looked irritable, but Annabeth could tell that her friend was actually pretty hurt by the fact that she was just now finding out about Annabeth's engagement. The Athenian squeezed Thalia's hand gently.

"I'm sorry," Annabeth said sincerely. "You should have been the first person I called."

Thalia pulled her hand away and crossed her arms angrily. "You think?"

"Actually…" Percy started, the girls' eyes snapping to him. "I might have forgotten to remind her specifically so I could talk to Artemis first." Annabeth gave him a confused look while Thalia's eyes narrowed.

"And why exactly did Lady Artemis need to find out about your engagement before me? Or at all?" Thalia growled. Percy ran a hand through his hair nervously.

"Well, knowing Annabeth, I assumed she wanted to ask you to be her maid of honor, so I wanted to make sure Artemis would let you off the hook for as long as you needed," Percy explained. Thalia looked back at Annabeth, surprised, while Annabeth gave her a warm smile before turning back to her fiancé.

"When did you start being able to figure me out so easily, Seaweed Brain?" she asked. She about melted at the love in his eyes as he returned her gaze.

"Well, it took a while for me to get with it, Wise Girl, but once I figured us out, it started being pretty easy."

Thalia snorted at Percy's answer. "Gods, leave the mush for later, would you?" Annabeth rolled her eyes affectionately and turned back to her sister in all but blood.

"Would you want to be my maid of honor?" Annabeth asked. "I know you've sworn off all forms of romantic love, but I was hoping you could make an exception just this once."

"Of course I'd love to!" Thalia grinned. "Besides, this is my last chance to convince you boys aren't worth it. You could still join the hunt!" Annabeth blushed a deep red. Thalia blanched. "Oh, _gross!_ I _so_ didn't need to know that!" She glared at Percy as he snickered beside Annabeth.

"You've ruined her!" Thalia yelled dramatically. "My poor little sister, violated by a sea spawn. The travesty!" Percy's laughing just grew louder as Annabeth's face grew redder.

"Thalia, please!" she begged. Thalia smirked at her before putting on a mock angry expression and turning to Percy.

"I must avenge your honor! Have at thee!" the huntress called. Percy's laughter stopped in an instant as Thalia started sparking.

"Uh, Thalia, please don't-"

"Too late!" she cackled as she threw a lightning bolt at the son of Poseidon. Percy threw himself to the side, avoiding the electricity which crashed into a tree a little ways away instead. "Oh, come on, take it like a man!" Thalia taunted him, charging up for another throw.

"Fine, I'll take it alright," Percy snapped. He widened his stance and shook out his arms, staring Thalia down the whole time. The daughter of Zeus glanced at Annabeth.

"When did he grow a backbone?" she stage whispered. Annabeth raised an eyebrow.

"He's always been arrogant in the face of danger," she said flatly. She inspected her fiancé's stance for a moment, then continued, "If he's trying what I think he is, this will be very interesting." Thalia looked at her curiously for a moment, then turned back to Percy. _Interesting would be an understatement,_ Annabeth thought to herself. _While Thalia's definitely more willing to hurt Percy than Jason is, controlling wind was a lot closer to the powers Percy already had at the time than lightning is to what he can do now._

"Bombs away!" Thalia cried, shooting another bolt of lightning towards her cousin. Percy's gaze hardened, his hands snapped up, and he grabbed onto the energy, tendrils of electricity crawling up his arms as the bolt dispersed. Thalia looked at him confused.

"My turn," Percy grinned. He cocked his arm back as if to throw a baseball, electricity crawling into his hand and forming an orb. Thalia's eyes widened a second before Percy heaved the projectile at her. It exploded on contact, knocking Thalia down and covering her hunter's tunic with soot. Annabeth was unaffected, a detail she noticed kept repeating itself, and she held out a hand to help Thalia up. The daughter of Zeus looked up at her dazed.

"How did he do that?" she asked in shock. Annabeth pulled her friend to her feet as Percy whooped excitedly in the background.

"He's been… expanding his skillset lately," she replied slowly. "He's shown that he doesn't care about how things typically happen, so we've been experimenting with how much being a child of the Stormbringer actually lets him do."

Thalia stared at her a moment before turning and glaring at Percy. "That's so not fair!" she shouted. Percy just grinned at her as he rejoined the two demigoddesses.

"Guess I can add lightning training to the list," he said to Annabeth. "Jason'll be in for a surprise when he gets back."

"Honestly, I'm kind of surprised that more people at camp haven't noticed you throwing around all of these extra powers yet," Annabeth admitted. Percy just shrugged.

"I don't know, but I'm not complaining about it." He looked past the girls for a moment and his eyes widened. "Uh, Thalia, you might want to step in before your hunters burn the Hermes cabin down again." Thalia swore and tore off towards the altercation and Percy sighed. "Every time they visit, I hope that the Stolls have learned their lesson, and every time I'm disappointed."

Annabeth snorted in amusement and started down the path to the dining pavilion. "Please, they probably take it as a challenge to do more." Percy made a face and Annabeth laughed. Percy grabbed her hand, and the couple walked in relative silence for a few moments before Annabeth's curiosity got the better of her.

"How did you get Artemis to agree to let Thalia attend a wedding of all things?" she asked. Percy rubbed the back of his neck and grinned sheepishly.

"I, uh, might have used my request from her," he admitted. Annabeth rolled her eyes, but smiled warmly at him.

"Of course you did." She looked at him for a moment, enjoying the way the sun highlighted his tan. "You're too good for me, sometimes."

Percy just shrugged. "Honestly, I have no idea what else I would possibly ask her for that wouldn't get me turned into a jackalope."

"That's fair," Annabeth agreed. They shared a look as Thalia and another hunter chased the cackling sons of Hermes across camp and broke out in laughter.

Percy grinned. "Race you?"

"You're on," Annabeth replied, already running. She laughed at Percy's indignant cries of cheating from behind her and smiled at what was looking to be a great day.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N New chapter! I've got about 5 more chapters till the end of the first part of this story, at which point I'll have to decide on whether or not to split it up. Until then, I'm definitely procrastinating on deciding, though if the poll gets more than one vote, I'll go with that.**

 **Shout out to AsunaLushieChase for this chapter! I'm really glad you're enjoying this story; it's always good to hear what seems good on my end is enjoyed by others.**

 **Finally, for those looking for other good PJO works to read, I would recommend heading over to CombatTombat. They do really well with their writing, and I've enjoyed all of their stories. Hope you all have a great week!**

 _Rights belong to RR; unfortunately, I'm not making money off of this._

* * *

 **9 - Annabeth**

Annabeth had to admit, the Romans knew their architecture. She admired the view from above New Rome as she trailed behind Percy, Blackjack and Guido slowly circling down to land. It had been a while since they had visited, and Blackjack always jumped at the opportunity to fly cross country. It was certainly faster that driving the distance, and Annabeth was a little less worried about the two of them getting blasted out of the sky with Percy's newfound control over wind and electricity. He had been practicing summoning full blown storms lately, and Annabeth was proud to say he had the foresight to do so out in the middle of the ocean instead of in camp. The other campers at Camp Half-Blood still hadn't noticed Percy's newer powers somehow, and Annabeth was glad to avoid the extra scrutiny as long as possible. They had enough of a fan club as it was.

"Ave, Praetor!" a legionnaire called out as they landed. Percy waved back and dismounted Blackjack. Annabeth followed suite, giving Guido a pat before the pegasi took off.

"I have no idea who that was," Percy whispered to her as they started towards the city. Annabeth snorted in amusement.

"Why does that not surprise me?" she asked, chuckling at Percy's put off expression. "Oh, you're fine. There's way more demigods here than at our Camp, even with people starting to live in New Athens." They walked hand in hand down the path, returning the greetings of the people they passed and just enjoying the stroll. As they got to the Pomerian Line, Percy sighed.

"Ah, Perseus, you are finally back! And you have brought the Athenian with you," Terminus announced to no one. Annabeth felt her grin fall away at the tone of the god, and she felt Percy's hand tend in her own.

"Hey, Terminus," Percy replied, his tone heavy with resignation.

"Percy!" a young girl's voice called excitedly. Percy's face lit up and he turned in time to catch Julia as she tackled him, the nine year old bouncing with energy.

"Hey there, kiddo!" Percy grinned and set the legacy down as she wriggled out of his grip. "How are you?"

"I'm great!" she answered, smiling at Annabeth. "Hiya, Beth!"

"Hello, Julia," Annabeth replied. Julia was one of the few people who got away with the nickname. As Annabeth watched the interaction between the young girl and Percy, she once again found herself fantasizing about how good of a dad Percy would be. She shook her head as she realized where her daydreams were headed and grumbled to herself about Aphrodite's meddling with her thoughts.

"I do not have all day, Jackson," Terminus finally snapped. Percy and Julia jumped and turned to the god in a flash. "Are you coming in or not?"

"Yeah, we're visiting Frank and Hazel today," Percy said. He held him arms out to the side dramatically. "Do your search thing. You won't find anything but Riptide." Terminus stared at him intensely for a moment before nodding sharply.

"You are still a mess and are breaking a litany of regulations, Jackson, but you tell the truth," the god grumbled. "Julia, if you would confiscate his weapon."

"Yeah, yeah," the girl grumbled. She stood stock straight as Terminus turned his glare to her. "I mean, yes sir!" Percy gave her a soft smile as he handed over the pen, Julia grinning back at him as she took it. She turned to Annabeth next, watching in annoyance as Terminus stared the daughter of Athena down.

"You are clear as well, Athenian," Terminus stated flatly. "You are free to enter, but damage a single brick and I will smite you where you stand!"

 _Are you even_ trying _to hide your disgust?_ Annabeth thought to herself, hiding her irritation under an expressionless mask. She nodded at the statue and said goodbye to Julia as Percy retook her hand and walked with her into New Rome. Once they were far enough away, Percy looked at her, concerned.

"You okay?" he asked quietly. Annabeth sighed deeply.

"I've heard worse," she replied. Percy's eyes narrowed at the avoidance of the question but didn't press the issue.

"Did you actually not bring a weapon?" he asked after a moment. "You're usually more prepared than that."

"Well, I have you," she started, grinning at her fiancé, "but I do have the knife Sadie gave me. The whole mixed magic thing probably blocked whatever detection method Boundary Boy usually uses." Percy snorted at the nickname but nodded in understanding.

The coupled continued their conversation as they meandered down the streets of New Rome. A few demigods and townspeople waved hi as they passed, and one particularly insistent legionnaire got them both muffins at a bakery. Annabeth brushed her hands of the crumbs as they entered the military district, looking to Percy as he glanced around.

"There's usually more officers around," Percy explained as she gave him a questioning look. "But there's not any emergency flags up, so there's probably some event down on the Field."

"Let's head that way, then," Annabeth replied. "If we run into someone along the way, we can double check with them."

"Sounds like a plan!" Percy spun around dramatically. Annabeth rolled her eyes but followed him as he started back towards the Field of Mars. They passed by Terminus without talking to him, much to the god's indignation, and continued on towards the Field of Mars. As they drew near, they saw a crowd of demigods on the edge of the Field watching as a smaller number skirmished. A legionnaire on the edge noticed them as they drew near and waved them over.

"What event is this?" Percy asked after they greeted the roman.

"Cohort Siege," the demigod answered. "Just like the bigger version, but either single cohort teams, or one cohort divided against itself." Percy nodded, and he and Annabeth watched as the remaining attacking players were wiped out by a water cannon.

"That marks three victories in a row for the Fifth Cohort!" Reyna's voice carries across the battlefield. Annabeth looks up to see her on a brilliant white Pegasus. She frowns, confused, and nudges Percy.

"When did she get a new Pegasus?" she asked quietly. Percy glances at her before turning back to the games.

"Pegasus named her Horse Friend near the end of the Gigantomachy for her treatment of Scipio," he explained. "Now local pegasi offer to help her all the time. That particular one just told me that he's visiting for the games and hopes to see me crush my competition should I compete."

"Naturally," Annabeth replied amusedly. They watched as medics helped the few injured players off the Field, the defeated Cohort slinking off to the sidelines. Percy surreptitiously dried off the few that acknowledged him as they joined the crowd before Reyna landed in front of them. An eagle swooped down next to her and transformed back into Frank himself.

"Welcome back to Rome, Percy, Annabeth," Reyna greeted them calmly.

"Hey guys!" Frank crushed the two of them in a hug. "We haven't seen you guys in forever!" Annabeth laughed as Percy pretended to catch his breath after Frank released them. Reyna raised an eyebrow at their antics but said nothing.

"Well, we have been rather busy," Annabeth explained. "Between expanding New Athens and planning a wedding, we've had a lot on our plates."

"Congratulations again on that count." Reyna smiled softly at her and Annabeth nodded her head in appreciation.

"Hazel will want to catch up with you, too, after she's done wiping the Field with the other Cohorts." Frank looked fondly towards the fort. "Not that I'm biased."

"Sure you aren't," Percy muttered. Reyna's pegasus nudged him insistently.

"What does he want of you?" Reyna asked, stroking the steed's mane lightly. Percy flushed slightly.

"Well, mostly to watch me take down the fort," he answered.

"And the part that's not the most?" Frank asked, curious.

"Uh, how many children Annabeth and I plan on having so that they can start competing to see who gets to be their dedicated pegasi." Annabeth matched Percy's bright red blush as Frank burst out laughing. Even Reyna had an amused smile.

"I cannot help the latter, but if you wish to compete you are more than welcome," Reyna said smoothly. Annabeth cursed mentally as she lost control of her blush again, swearing to herself to make Frank miserable later for laughing so hard. Then she had a better idea.

"Why don't you compete, Percy?" Annabeth asked innocently. Frank gave her a questioning look and Percy raised an eyebrow at her tone.

"I love that tone; that's an 'I'm planning something' tone." Percy grinned fiendishly as the praetors exchanged a concerned look. Annabeth smirked.

"Then you'll love this one," she replied. "How are you feeling today, combatively?"

Percy rolled his shoulders, cracked his neck by jerking his head violently to the side, and flexed his fingers. His aura briefly flared, and Annabeth gave a toothy grin at the flinch both of their Roman friends gave. "Pretty dam good. I assume you want the _graecus_ to show off?"

"You know me so well." Annabeth turned back to Reyna. "Is the whole Fifth currently on defense?"

"Yes," Reyna answered. "We could split them up between defense and offense for an even-"

"No need," Annabeth interrupted. "Big enough challenge for you, love, or should they add the Fourth in as well?"

"I'd hate to bruise _that_ many egos. The Fifth will be challenge enough." Percy let a predatory smile grow across his face, and Annabeth almost felt bad for the Fifth. _Almost_. Frank shuddered at their expressions and Annabeth noticed even Reyna paled a little bit. Percy strutted out to the Field as Annabeth moved to the front of the crowd, Reyna and Frank taking back to the sky.

"For the next match:" Reyna announced from the back of the pegasus, "The Fifth will defend against Perseus Jackson!" The crowd murmured, most confused, some nervously. The older legionnaires knew how deadly Annabeth's fiancé could be. The younger ones were about to find out.

"Begin!" As Reyna's voice rang over the Field, the ballistae on top of the fort swiveled towards Percy. He merely stood in a ready position, arms hanging loosely at his sides. At some unseen command, the defenders fired, dozens of bolts screaming towards the demigod.

Percy raised his hand before the bolts reached him and Annabeth felt the air currents tense before a huge rush of wind blew past, knocking the bolts off course. The crowd watched in stunned silence as the fort fired again to the same effect, Percy's lazy wave belying the power with which he controlled the winds. Apparently deciding he was bored on defense, he started walking calmly towards the wall. The water cannons exploded, washing defenders off the wall and destroying the ballistae before they could fire another round. The ground started to shake and many in the crowd watching struggled to keep their balance. Annabeth looked on amused as the ground at her feet stayed steady amidst the earthquake.

As Percy reached the wall, it crumbled, bricks raining down in pieces and a huge plume of dust rising into the air. He calmly continued walking through the gap he created and the crowd lost sight of him, the occasional explosions of dust and shards of stone marking his progress through the fort. There was a pause in the action before the northeast tower erupted. The crowd watched in awe as it crumbled to the ground, revealing a dome of water. As the debris settled, the water dissipated, revealing most of the Fifth Cohort in varying states of disablement. Medics rushed onto the Field and started helping them out of the combat zone, many in the crowd helping to carry those that were unconscious.

After the Field was cleared, the rest of the fort crumbled to the ground, revealing Percy staring at a black box of stone with crossed arms. Annabeth recognized the material from her (far too many) trips to the Underworld and knew that Hazel must have summoned it to protect the flag. She recalled Nico summoning a similar wall back when they ran into Kronos in the Labyrinth and knew that most people wouldn't be able to break through the barrier.

Percy stared at the stone a moment longer before he walked up to it, reached out a hand, and flicked the wall. The ground around the wall shook violently and after a few seconds the wall collapsed. Hazel stood next to the flag drenched in sweat, looking at Percy with a mixture of shock and exhaustion. He grinned at her and beckoned to her. She drew her spatha and charged, Percy again not drawing his sword. As Hazel swung, Percy caught the blade in his hand, electricity crawling up his arm and discharging across the sword with a loud crack. Hazel flew backwards, and Percy calmly dropped her sword next to her and strode towards the flag. He hefted the banner onto his should, turned around, and walked all the way back to Annabeth.

"Good enough?" he asked when he rejoined her, plunking the flag next to him. Annabeth grinned when she noticed he looked like he hadn't even been through combat.

"Eh, you could have gone faster," she replied noncommittedly. Percy rolled his eyes and Annabeth chuckled before turning to Reyna as she landed next to the couple. The Athenian noticed that the crowd had moved away as Percy drew near, leaving a good few yards in between them and the legionnaires.

"Do I even need to announce the winner?" Reyna asked incredulously. Frank had landed near Hazel and was making sure she was okay. Reyna's pegasus whinnied loudly and lowered its head to Percy.

"No, don't do that! That's not- that wasn't the point of- fine, you know what? Do whatever you want, I won't stop you." Percy crossed his arms and turned his back to the flying horse, who continued to nudge his back. Reyna dismounted and left the steed to stand by Annabeth.

Annabeth gave her a soft smile when she noticed the nervous vibe the praetor was putting off. "Hey, we're your friends. That's the closest you'll ever see us get to actually fighting you, and he went way out of his way to ensure everyone stayed safe." Reyna nodded slowly.

"That's true, but you can't blame me for being cautious after that display." Reyna glanced at Percy. "And since when could he use Jason's powers?"

"Oh, a couple of months, now," Annabeth said breezily. "Son of the Stormbringer and all that, so we've been expanding his skill set."

"As if he wasn't already dangerous enough," Reyna muttered. "I'm surprised the gods haven't tried to intervene yet."

Annabeth snorted derisively. "As if they could stop him. He beat Ares when he was twelve with only a couple weeks of even knowing he was a demigod. Now?" She watched as Frank, supporting Hazel, came up to Percy, congratulating him on the battle and laughing at his arguing with the pegasus. "I honestly don't think any of them could stop him if they tried."

Reyna studied their friends for a moment as well before turning back to Annabeth with a serious expression. "I hope it never comes to it, but should you need Rome's help with anything, you'll have it," she murmured quietly. "As much as I hated you two for ruining my home on Circe's island, I owe everything I have now to you, and you have proved yourselves to be the champions of all demigods. Give us the word, and Rome will be behind you."

Annabeth looked at the praetor in surprise before smiling warmly. "We're honored to be held in such high esteem, though I hope it never comes to that." She motioned towards the fort. "Now, should I design you a new fort, or are you guys done for the day?" Reyna rolled her eyes and shook her head in resignation as Annabeth laughed.

"Would you stop?!" Percy yelled. The pegasus looked at him for a second before shaking its mane and trotting back to Reyna. Annabeth stroked its mane and smiled at it huffed at her fiancé.

"Stop arguing with the pegasus, Percy," she scolded him half-heartedly. Percy made a noise of protest but turned back to Frank and Hazel. She turned to Reyna as she continued petting the flying horse. "For the record, we are in this game for the other demigods. Off the record…" She looked intently at the other girl. "If you need our help defending against _anything_ , we'll be there. We'll do _whatever_ it takes to build the best life for those like us." Reyna gulped at the intensity of Annabeth's gaze and words and nodded solemnly. Annabeth pat the pegasus one last time before moving next to Percy.

"Ready to go?" Percy asked her warmly. She smiled up at him.

"With you? Always." She took his hand and waved to Reyna as the four former Argonauts headed off back towards New Rome.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:** **Thanks to all of you who have followed and favorited this so far! I'm glad so many of you are enjoying this story.**

 *****The poll has decided on one long book! I'm going to reduce the title down to just Demigod Empire, but it's still the same story.*****

 **I know you guys are itching for the gods to catch on to what's happening, and it will happen soon! There's a TON of plot stuff being set up right now so bear with me for a couple more chapters.**

 _I'm not Rick and I'm not making money off of this._

* * *

 **10 – Annabeth**

Annabeth swore as she dove out of the way, a giant icicle spearing the air when she had stood a moment ago. "I thought you were still supposed to be in lockup?" she yelled in frustration. Khione laughed, a cold sound that cut through the icy winds she was maintaining.

"You think the Olympians could keep me contained? How foolish." Khione swung her arm towards Annabeth and she once again had to throw herself out of the way to avoid becoming an icicle.

 _Where the Hades_ are _you, Percy!_ she thought angrily. They had been taking a late autumn stroll through Central Park when Khione had suddenly appeared. The two demigods had been blown apart, not expecting the attack, and Annabeth had yet to see him through the snowstorm. Knowing Percy as well as she did, he probably got blown into a tree and knocked himself out. She knew if she could get closer, she could take down the ice princess, but her ring only protected her against getting wet, not the frigid temperatures being tossed around.

"Do you know how much I lost because of your meddling?" Khione snarled. "My own father disowned me. Me! His only daughter! I lost my future throne, all of my statues, everything!"

"To be fair," Annabeth called back, "I would also probably disown my daughter if she were a psychopath."

She threw herself behind a tree as Khione screamed at her, ice shards shredding the ground behind her. "Insolent mortal! You should have stayed in the Pit!"

 _Oh boy, now you've made me mad._ Annabeth grit her teeth in anger. She thought through all of her options. _My sword won't do me any good if I can't get closer; same with my dagger. My ring doesn't protect against snow. Percy is MIA. I can't call anyone for help, not that they would get here in time anyways. Styx, I could use Magnus right about now._ She continued her mental rant as she dodged around the park, which was slowly filling with snow. The mortals would probably freak, seeing how it was only October.

Suddenly, she had an idea. She switched out her sword for her dagger, focusing on what Sadie's wand had looked like before she had grabbed it. She hissed as the same numbing feeling washed over her, and the dagger transformed back into the wand. Annabeth wracked her brain for a useful hieroglyph, glad she had spent all of that time after the incident with the Kanes researching their pantheon and language. She remembered the word she was looking for and leapt out from behind cover.

" _A'max_!" she yelled, pointing her wand at the goddess. Khione gave her a confused look that quickly turned to terror as red hot flames burst out of the wand and raged towards her. Annabeth grinned savagely and drew her sword again, dual wielding her weapons as she charged the goddess.

They traded blows for a few moments, but eventually Annabeth tired out. She shouldn't have been surprised; Egyptian magic wasn't exactly a normal thing she did. Frankly, she was surprised she could work any magic at all, considering she needed Sadie's secret name last time, and that had worn from her memory.

As Annabeth tried to dodge a blast of snow, she slipped on ice that had crawled underneath her. The icy wind rocketed into her, and she went sprawling towards the edge of the clearing they had created. Her sword clattered away and her wand snapped against a tree, the two pieces flying off in opposite directions as they turned to ash.

"You see? You cannot hope to defeat _me_!" Khione crowed. She raised her hand towards Annabeth. "After I turn you into a statue, I am going to smash it to a thousand pieces and cast those back into the Pit!" A blizzard erupted from Khione's hand and rushed towards her. Annabeth knew she wouldn't be able to dodge.

Of course, that's when Percy finally decided to show back up. Right before the blizzard hit Annabeth, it dissolved into a warm, wet breeze. The snow melted in a circle up to five feet around the demigoddess, and she looked behind her to see Percy with his own hand extended towards the snow goddess.

"It's about time you showed up, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth called. Khione looked angry beyond belief at having her attack stopped. Percy shrugged in embarrassment.

"Sorry. Took a blow to the head when we got blasted, and it took me a minute to fight off the vertigo." He glanced around the clearing. "What were you doing, throwing grenades?"

"No, I was using my wand as an actual wand for once. Fire spells are a lot more fun than I thought they'd be," Annabeth answered.

Percy's eyebrows creased in thought. "I thought you could only use magic because you had Sadie's secret name?"

"Apparently not anymore." Annabeth shrugged. "We'll figure it out later. You should probably take Elsa here out first. I think she's mad at being ignored." Percy looked back at the goddess, whom Annabeth noticed was frozen in rage. Shards of ice swirled around her in a barely controlled frenzy.

"I am so sick of being ignored!" she screamed. Khione pointed a finger dramatically at the couple. "Once I kill you two, Olympus will never dare to belittle me again!"

Annabeth rolled her eyes at the cliché posturing. "Send her to Tartarus, would you dear?"

"Of course, sweetheart," Percy replied.

 _Normal people talk like that about doing chores_ , Annabeth thought. _Although, at this point taking out angsty immortals_ is _basically a chore._ She slowly sat up and caught her breath as Percy advanced on the goddess. Everything she threw at him split around him or fell to the ground. The air started to swirl around Percy as he started to create his own blizzard, picking up ice and snow as he made his way forward.

"How are you doing this?" Khione shrieked. " _I_ am the master of snow, not you or anyone else. This is _my_ domain!" She attempted to wrench control of the elements back from the demigod but nothing happened.

"True, this is your domain," Percy started, "but this is _my_ birthright. _I_ am the Storm Bringer, the Hero of heroes, the Destroyer. I defeated Ares at twelve years old, I held up the sky, I've taken down Titans and Giants, and I survived facing the Pit himself. Monsters avoid me for fear of my wrath, and the Olympians themselves are wary of the two of us together. You think you pose a challenge to me?"

Khione had grown successively more fearful as Percy's boast continued. The snow grew in a huge funnel around the three of them, thunder crackling amongst the hail. Sparks crawled around Percy's arms, the winds whipping his hair as snow, ice, and melted water froze in the air around him. The ground rumbled in the eye of the growing storm, spires of rock surrounding the edges as thick clouds rolled over the top. Even from behind, Annabeth thought her boyfriend in that moment was one of the most intimidating sights she'd seen outside of the Pit.

That, and incredibly attractive. _Not that I'm about to admit that to him,_ she thought to herself.

The goddess' face looked strained as she tried vainly to stop her element from turning against her. Annabeth watched as realization finally dawned, the snow witch trying and failing to teleport away as Percy grounded her in her own element, refusing access to the outside world.

In a last, desperate attempt to escape, Khione lunged at Percy, her fingernails growing into icy talons. Annabeth grabbed her sword and rushed to Percy's side, the both of them stabbing forward at the same time. Khione looked down at the two swords in her torso in shock, golden ichor leaking around the blades and staining the snow beneath them. With one last cry she dissolved into golden dust, leaving behind an icy crown.

With a wave of his hand, Percy melted the blizzard, ice and snow turning into water and then into steam. The ground flattened out and stilled, and the clouds dissipated. Within a few seconds, the park was clear of precipitation and no evidence remained of their confrontation besides a few scorched trees. Annabeth debated picking up the spoils of their fight, but decided it wasn't worth it. Percy seemed to agree, and clenched a fist towards the tiara. With a crack, the crown shattered and melted, leaving no trace of the goddess.

As the two demigods left the park, Percy heaved a sigh. "As cool as all these powers are," he started, "I really don't understand why I have all of them."

"I don't know, Percy," Annabeth replied slowly. "I've been wondering, too, but I haven't figured anything out, yet."

"Well, I guess the Fates must have something in mind. I just hope they realize that I won't be pushed around anymore."

"Well, after your last few displays, I'm sure they're aware." Annabeth gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Let's not worry about that right now. Sally's probably worried about us." Percy nodded in agreement and the couple started back towards home, leaving their unanswered questions behind.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N Hey all! Sorry for the long wait on all three stories; between moving to IL, starting a new job, and not having internet yet, it's hard to find time to write or upload. Luckily, this chapter was preloaded on here, so hopefully it can tide you all over until I can get some new chapters typed up for PO and TMAT.**

 _Character rights belong to Rick Riordan._

* * *

 **11 - Annabeth**

In New Athens, laughter was ringing loudly. Piper had insisted they throw Annabeth a bachelorette party before she "got stuck with Kelp Head for the rest of her life", so the girls had commandeered the couple's house for the day. Hazel and Reyna flew in from New Rome, Piper had dragged Clarisse away from the arena and Rachel away from her cave, Katie had been glad for a break from her usually bickering/flirting with Travis, and Thalia had arrived the night before from her latest hunt.

Annabeth had even managed to sneak Sadie in without anyone questioning her. _To be fair_ , she thought to herself as she watched said girl try to defend herself from Piper's armful of water balloons, _an Egyptian magician wearing a Greek invisibility hat wasn't exactly going to get caught._ Annabeth remembered how surprised Sadie had been to get the invite, but after being reassured that she'd be welcomed Sadie had been almost as excited as Piper had been. Of course, her camp friends had been shocked to hear about other pantheons existing, but with all of the crazy stuff that had happened to them at this point in their lives, what was a couple more sets of gods?

Annabeth shrieked as she dodged a balloon thrown her way, coming dangerously close to spilling her glass of wine. "Watch it!" she yelled. Piper just stuck her tongue out at the demigoddess.

"It's not like you can get wet with that stupid ring on!" Piper complained.

"I'm more worried about wasting the alcohol!"

"I thought the bloke in charge of your camp was your god of wine?" Sadie asked, confused. Piper rolled her eyes at the question, then yelped as Clarisse nailed her in the back. The two chased each other off as Annabeth turned back to Sadie.

"Technically, yes, but Chiron's the actual responsible one. Also Mr. D is on probation, so he can't summon any alcohol, not that he would if we asked," Annabeth explained.

"The Greek god of wine… is being forced into sobriety?" Sadie asked disbelievingly.

"The gods are kinda dumb like that," Annabeth agreed. She ignored both the rumble of thunder and Clarisse's grunt of agreement, dodging Piper's wide throw. Reyna spluttered as the projectile hit her instead, sitting up angrily as she glared at the daughter of love. Piper quickly pointed a finger at Thalia, who shrugged and hit Reyna on purpose with a second balloon. Annabeth smiled fondly as the fuming Roman charged into the fray, her friends scattering in the face of the assault.

"I don't know how mortals usually do these, but this is great!" Katie called from across the yard.

"Not at all like this," Rachel drawled from the porch table, not looking up from her current sketching. "Quite a shame, too; this is _much_ more entertaining." The redhead looked up and grinned at Annabeth, who returned the smile.

"Bombs away!" the Athenian heard Piper cry, and she turned around just in time to be hit with a half dozen water balloons. She glared at the others who all paled at pointed at Piper. The girl blanched for a moment under Annabeth's gaze, then smirked. _"You want to take your ring off and let us try again._ "

Annabeth could feel the charmspeak roll over her, and she could see some of her friends started to reach for their own jewelry before blinking and shaking their heads clear. Annabeth just raised an eyebrow. "How about no?" she retorted.

" _Take it off; it'll be fun!"_ Piper tried again, her determination making her magic that much stronger. Annabeth just shrugged as the others stared at her. "Why isn't this working?" Piper complained.

"Maybe you're just tired?" Annabeth asked innocently. Piper glared at her as she smirked.

"Didn't you talk Gaia back to sleep before?" Clarisse grumbled. Piper flushed and threw a balloon at the daughter of Ares, who didn't get out of the way in time. Annabeth noticed Hazel staring at her ring and waved a hand in her face, startling the younger girl.

"You good?" Annabeth asked. Hazel just stared at her, perplexed.

"My powers aren't working, either," she answered slowly.

"It's not just me!" Piper yelled triumphantly before Reyna nailed her in revenge. The girl spluttered and reached for another balloon, but Thalia hit her as well and she slipped, falling on her back in the mud. She blinked up at the sky for a moment as she caught her breath. "I'm very glad none of you are my siblings," she said suddenly. Annabeth gave her a suspicious look, noticing Rachel quickly packing up her stuff and running inside.

"Why is that?" she asked slowly.

"Because you probably won't kill me for this!" Piper whirled back upright and hurled a ball of mud at Annabeth. It exploded on contact, covering the Athenian with sludge and knocking the glass from her hand. The girls watched, frozen, as it hit the ground… and bounced a few times, coming to a stop a few feet away.

"I thought that was glass?" Hazel asked.

"Percy got them from Tyson," Katie answered. "He probably toughened them up, knowing how prone these two are to accidents."

"That's fair," Thalia nodded in agreement. The daughter of Zeus blinked, then looked back at Annabeth. "You okay, kiddo?" The others turned to see the demigoddess frozen, looking down at herself. She slowly looked up and locked eyes with Piper.

"Oh, you're so on," she declared. She quickly took off her ring and looped it onto her camp necklace for safe keeping as the other girls whooped in excitement. Well, most of them; Annabeth grinned as she noticed Piper looked a mix between proud and terrified.

Just as Annabeth reached the water balloon cache, a flash of light appeared at the edge of the yard. She whirled around, angrily wishing her wand/knife hadn't broken last fall when they fought Khione. As the light died down, it revealed Artemis, looking out of place in her typical twelve year old form amongst all of the older teens. The huntress looked around for a moment, confusion clear on her face, before making eye contact with Annabeth.

"I am in need of my lieutenant," Artemis stated. Annabeth raised an eyebrow and resisted the urge to respond with sarcasm.

"I thought you finished your last hunt?" she asked instead. She watched the rest of the girls unfreeze from the goddess' entrance and start to shift out of the way, most of them on their way behind her to her back porch. Sadie in particular was trying to stay unnoticed, going so far as to hide behind Clarisse, who looked vaguely amused.

"We did," Artemis responded. "Now I need her for the next one."

Annabeth considered arguing for a moment before discarding the idea as unnecessarily rebellious. She sighed as she turned around to her friends. "Where is she hiding?"

"Where is who hiding?" Rachel asked as she came back outside. She stopped and blinked at the scene in front of her. "Actually, never mind, I don't need to see this twice." The Oracle turned back around and closed the door behind her, ignoring the confused looks of the rest of the demigoddesses.

"Thalia, I love you, but winning a water balloon fight isn't worth fighting your patron," Annabeth called out tiredly.

"Says you!" said daughter of Zeus responded, shifting her way to the front of the group. She crossed her arms and glared at Artemis. "You said I'd have at least two days off!"

Artemis blinked, nonplussed. "I said it was likely to be two days. I caught the trail a short while ago. We leave within the hour." Thalia grit her teeth and glared at the goddess, hands curled into fists. After a short staring contest between the two huntresses, Thalia sighed loudly. As she spun around and stomped into the house to collect her things, Artemis turned towards Annabeth.

"I have a message for you from your mother," the goddess said. Annabeth snorted in ill-humor.

"Let me guess," she drawled, "it goes something like this: how dare you defy me, I am a goddess, Perseus is far beneath you, I will not have my daughter be chained to a spawn of the sea, blah blah blah." She made a rude gesture towards the thunder that rumbled after that statement, Artemis' expression becoming a bit more guarded. The rest of the demigods backed up even more, making the standoff appear as just that.

"You should know better than to insult an Olympian so lightly," Artemis warned.

"I don't do _anything_ lightly," Annabeth bit back. "We've made our position very clear on both of those fronts. So far, it doesn't seem to have sunk in upstairs." Artemis narrowed her eyes at Annabeth, studying her for a long, quiet moment. Thalia slipped back out of the house in her hunter's uniform, bow across her back, and squeezed Annabeth's shoulder as she slipped past. Annabeth thought it was funny how Thalia had started showing support that way back when they were on the run all those years ago and still did it, even though she had to reach up a bit to reach Annabeth's shoulder now. It was a gesture she saved only for those she considered family, and Annabeth was glad her friend still considered her a part of hers.

"I promised that I would offer you a place in my hunt." Annabeth blinked, shocked, as Thalia froze in place just before Artemis. Annabeth's friends whipped their heads between her and the goddess at the statement. "There are many… _restorative_ places that could make you eligible once again. You could be with Thalia and your mother for eternity, provided you do not fall in combat."

"Wha- what about Percy?!" Thalia spluttered, outraged.

"He is but a male," Artemis said dismissively. "Better than some, but still untrustworthy. He would soon get over any feelings he has deluded himself to have." Thalia sparked, about to defend her cousin, when Annabeth laughed.

It was a cold laugh. One that Annabeth used _very_ rarely. She had faced her share of monsters; she knew how disconcerting it could be, throwing a wrench in your opponent's expectations. This laugh was not a giddy, excited outburst. It was a warning that the final line had been crossed, that no matter what happened from that moment on, you were in trouble.

Annabeth would like to say that she didn't enjoy the way everyone froze at the sound, that she didn't, for even a moment, revel in the feeling of power as apprehension and muted fear grew around her.

Annabeth locked her hard gaze onto the goddess of the hunt. "After all of these years, I question why I didn't better understand where Luke was coming from." Thalia whirled around and stared at her, panicked, but Annabeth plowed on.

"You think that I care about the politics up on Olympus, that _any_ demigod does? All we ever want from our parents is for them to act like they _are_ our parents. A little more recognition, a note or a visit somewhat often, maybe a birthday gift each year. Instead? We get ordered around like servants, expected to do whatever dear old mom or dad wants because you manipulate us into thinking it will be enough. Enough to please you, enough to grab your attention for even a single, fleeting moment.

"But it never is. You pretend to know what we want, what we fear, and you try to push us towards whatever path you feel we should be on to fit into your little plots and ideals." Annabeth looked down at Artemis in derision. "Athena knew I wouldn't listen to her anymore about this, so she asked you to go in her stead. Normally, you wouldn't care, but this was me. You knew that if you succeeded, you'd not only have one of the strongest and most experienced demigods alive as a handmaiden, you'd also have Athena in your debt, and if you didn't succeed; well, you tried, which keeps Athena off your back."

Artemis glared at Annabeth. "Do not presume to know my intentions, girl."

"Oh, I _presume_ , all right," Annabeth interrupted. "Thirteen years I've fought for Olympus, against enemies you've created. I got no help when I ran from home at the age of seven. I got no help all those times I cried myself to sleep thinking that a friend, a family member, might be dead. I got no help as I fought Kronos himself in the throne room of Olympus, nor when my own mother practically disowned me and commanded me to dig up her old statue. No god stooped to stop my fall into Tartarus, and in the years after that war, no Olympian helped stave off the night terrors and flashbacks that drove Percy and I to drop out of the mortal world entirely. If there's one thing I've learned about gods in all this time, it is that you are _selfish_ , you are _controlling_ , and that you don't care about mortal life at _all._ "

Annabeth had no warning as Artemis leapt forward in a blur of sliver, but she dodged all the same, twisting under and around the goddess as she slashed at the demigod. One arm reached out and twisted the knife from the goddess' hand as the other and one leg tripped her and pinned her down. Annabeth pushed her knee into the Huntress' shoulder for good measure as Artemis sneered into the dirt.

She knew that her rant would provoke some sort of violent reaction, but even so, she was kind of surprised at the vehemence in the strike she had dodged. _Well, a wounded pride usually leads to a harsh retort,_ she thought wryly.

Annabeth leaned down and put her mouth to Artemis' ear. "You can tell my mother this," she whispered. "I am done putting up with your attitude and pride. If you did not ignore us all, you would know what a threat Percy could become, especially after this last year. If she attempts something like this again, I may just give him a reason to do so."

The demigoddess stood up calmly, brushing the dirt from her palms and returning to her house. She didn't acknowledge Artemis as she pushed herself back upright, nor as she grabbed Thalia and flashed away in a burst of silver light. Her friends parted for her as she walked through them, staring at her in shock and a small amount of trepidation.

Rachel chose that moment to poke her head back outside. "Is it over?" she asked.

"Yes," Annabeth answered simply. She sagged into a chair on the deck, suddenly exhausted. Rachel rejoined her and held out a fresh glass of wine.

"Thought you might need a drink." Annabeth gave her friend a small smile as she accepted the glass, the redhead plopping ungracefully into the seat nearest her. The rest of the demigoddesses slowly shook themselves out of their stupor and came over as well, letting Annabeth recover for a few moments in silence as they tried to process what had just happened.

"Sadie?" Annabeth asked after she felt composed again. The magician looked up from the table and blinked at her.

"Yes?"

"Could you pass me a water balloon? I still need to hit Piper for earlier." The rest of the girls stared at her for a moment before bursting out in laughter, the tension leeching out of the atmosphere slowly but surely.

"You're going down, my friend," Piper taunted. "You'll never be able to – oomph!" The rest of her sentence was lost to a water balloon to the face as the melee started up again. Annabeth was grateful her friends didn't run from her. She had lost enough family to the gods.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N - I'm still alive! I've decided I'm bad at scheduling chapter posts, so you'll get two chapters for DE today. I'm working on the next chapter for PO right now, and I started the next for TMAT but I left my copy of TTC at home so I need to get it before I can finish. Should have both updated within a week! Aiming for two new chapters each by December, so we'll see.**

 _Character rights belong to Rick Riordan._

* * *

 **12 - Annabeth**

Annabeth took a deep breath. She looked at her dad as she linked her arm in his and gave him a watery smile. He gave a shaky smile in return. "Ready?" he asked quietly.

Annabeth turned her gaze down the aisle to where Percy was waiting for her. The love in his eyes was enough to quiet even the fears of abandonment she had carried for so many years. His smile could be seen from Olympus, she was sure. She turned back to her dad. "Yeah, I am."

Annabeth thoughts whirled surreally as her dad walked her down to the altar they had set up on the shores of Long Island, just outside of Camp Half-Blood. Even after all of the long weeks spent planning, the fact that she was actually getting married still seemed like a dream. Most demigods didn't even _live_ long enough to get married. She never thought she'd find anyone that she could trust, that she could _love_ , enough to marry. Hades, even the fact that she had repaired her relationship with her mortal family enough to let her dad walk her down the aisle was due to Percy.

As many times as Percy had told her he loved her, she didn't think she'd quite understand why, but she'd do anything she could to make his life as good as he'd made hers.

All too soon and yet not soon enough, they were up front, her dad leaving a kiss on her temple and giving Percy a hug before leaving to his designated seat. Annabeth smiled brightly at Percy, feeling flushed. Her soon-to-be husband's eyes sparkled. She raised an eyebrow just enough for him to see and he squinted minimally in return. _Yep, definitely almost crying,_ Annabeth thought fondly.

Chiron cleared his throat, his usually dapper style spruced up a bit for the day. Hera had thrown a fit when Percy and she had informed the goddess that their mentor would be officiating instead of her, but after the crap Hera had put them through over the years, they didn't have much sympathy.

"We are gathered here today to celebrate the union between Perseus Jackson and Annabeth Chase." Annabeth grinned at the face Percy pulled at hearing his full name. "Over the years, they have protected each other's back, and their hearts. Together, they have accomplished much that others would deem impossible." Chiron smiled at them. "They are, to date, two of my pride and joys as students, and I am thankful I had but even a small part in their training and in their lives."

Annabeth felt her eyes water, and Percy's gentle squeeze through their held hands informed her that he was just as composed as her. She smiled warmly at the centaur. He gazed at her and Percy warmly for a moment before continuing.

"Though I can't imagine anyone would, before we begin this ceremony, does anyone object to this union? Speak now, or eternally hold your peace."

At that moment, Annabeth felt her heart drop. A chill ran up her spine. Percy's fingers gripped her tightly for a moment, enough for her to know he also felt something about to go very wrong. It seemed slow motion that Annabeth watched Athena stand up with a glare and denounce her daughter's impending marriage. Her ears felt full of cotton as she watched Athena argue with Chiron, Sally, even Fredric. She had almost expected a monster attack at some point. Her mother actually being arrogant enough to try to ruin her wedding? She hadn't.

She had turned to the audience when the yelling started, so she turned her head to lock eyes with Percy. His green orbs had darkened considerably, swirling with emotion. Most of it was not particularly pleasant. In that moment, Annabeth felt something deep in herself harden. Her heart turned to lead, cold and unyielding, and her expression twisted with rage.

" _Shut up!_ " she screamed. Athena blinked, surprised, as did the rest of their audience. Annabeth glared at the wisdom goddess. Those around flinched at the intensity of the stare. "How _dare_ you! You stuck up, arrogant, self-absorbed, good for nothing _vlacas_!"

Athena sneered. "You dare insult-"

" _No!_ " Annabeth interrupted. " _My_ turn to talk." Athena looked taken aback at her vehemence.

"Do you know," Annabeth bit out, "what it's like, being a demigod? To be chased by the stuff of nightmares every day because of who your parent happens to be? To be brushed off as unimportant by half your family and pushed away as a freak by the rest?

"You don't; you _can't_. We struggle to live past our teens, we strive to capture the attention of our godly parent even for a single fleeting moment, we hide from the mortal world, for what?" The question hung in the air like the acrid smoke of a battlefield. "The most attention we ever get from you is when you come down from your lofty thrones to ruin stuff for us. News flash: we don't really care about your feuds, and we've grown past the point of needing your help."

Athena stood rigid as a statue, hands clenched to her sides. "No daughter of mine will ever marry a son of Poseidon."

Annabeth met the goddess' gaze in silence. She felt more than saw Percy next to her glance around before his shoulders slumped, weary with resignation at something or other he noticed in the crowd. Annabeth knew what she was going to do would not end well.

"So be it." Everyone stared at her shocked, except for Percy, whose hand crept towards his jacket pocket.

"That's it?" Aphrodite asked. "You're just going to leave the love of your life at the altar?" Annabeth turned to her and smiled coldly. Aphrodite visibly flinched, the coy smile melting off her face.

"Oh, no," she drawled, "you misunderstand me. Athena said that no daughter of hers would end up with a child of the sea. If she feels that strongly, then she can consider herself disowned."

"I- what?" Athena sounded so lost in that moment, but Annabeth couldn't find it in herself to give her any sympathy.

"You have done nothing but demand the impossible from me and degrade me and my family at every opportunity, and you don't respect my wishes. You've not been a mother to me, and I refuse to address you as one any longer." Annabeth stood confidently as Athena processed her words. She spread her feet apart slightly. Her arms hung loose at her sides, all of her muscles ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. Athena looked back and forth between Annabeth and Percy, mouth slightly open and eyes wide. In the moment before she blew up, Annabeth saw her eyes narrow and her jaw clench shut.

Athena lunged at Percy, a spear materializing in her outstretched arm as she sped towards him. She came on to them faster than the audience could react, but not too fast for the two of them. Annabeth slapped the spear to the side before Percy could be impaled. As she did, Percy reared his arm back, electricity crawling from his shoulder to his fist as he swung. Athena was blasted to the far end of the aisle, smoke and sparks trailing from her chiton. The audience swung around in astonishment, their movements too fast for them to follow.

"You okay?" Percy asked. Annabeth nodded and he gave her a grim smile. As he stepped down from the altar towards the goddess he had just launched, she grabbed his shoulder. He turned back and gave her a questioning look.

"Rough her up, but don't send her under. Just enough to send the message that we're done taking their crap." Percy nodded at her, and she squeezed his shoulder briefly before releasing him to continue.

Athena gathered herself and stood up, hand briefly holding her abdomen with a painful grimace. She glared at the son of Poseidon and drew herself up. With a flash of light, her chiton was replaced by bronze armor. She held a new spear in one hand and hefted her own Aegis in the other. The rest of the wedding guests flinched away from the imprinted head of Medusa, but Percy barely glanced at it as he stopped about halfway towards the goddess.

"I thought immortals had to wait to be challenged before attacking a lowly half-blood?" Percy asked. Athena snarled at him.

"You challenged me by not backing away from my daughter," she retorted, and moved to engage him again. Percy side-stepped her initial strike, dodged under the spear as Athena swept it over him, and sprung up, slamming into her shield with his shoulder and knocking her back a few paces. Athena grit her teeth and swung her spear again, but Percy stepped back out of range, the point of the weapon screaming by inches from his chest. Percy continued dodging Athena's strikes, both opponents' movements looking like blurs. Annabeth's brain worked overtime while she watched. A dozen possible strategies flew through her mind in an instant.

"Wow, some battle goddess," Percy drawled nonchalantly. "Can't even hit little old me?" Annabeth sighed, resigned. She should have assumed that Percy would go with the tried and true method of "piss off your opponent until they make a fatal mistake".

Athena yelled and swung her spear with all her might, the wood screaming through the air towards Percy's head. Percy dropped into a crouch, barely ducking under the beam. Athena had miscalculated, though, because she couldn't maintain her grip on the haft of her weapon. As the spear flew over the guests' heads, Percy struck, straightening up with a shout and ripping his hand up, palm skyward with his fingers curled into a claw. The ground in front of Athena shot upwards, the spire of stone striking her under the chin and sending her tumbling. Quick as a flash, Percy slammed his foot down on Athena's shield to prevent her from pulling it over herself and slashed his hand through the air above her. Water burst from the ground and wound around the goddess' limbs, trapping her.

Percy turned back to Annabeth and nodded sharply. As she started down the aisle towards the pair, she felt the stares of everyone present. She noticed Percy press more of his weight into Athena's shield, the ground crawling over the rim to help restrain the goddess.

"The problem with being a god," Annabeth declared as she stopped before Athena, "is that you ignore everyone you consider beneath you."

"How could you-" Athena started, but Percy flicked his wrist and sent electricity crawling from his fingers. As the goddess writhed, Zeus shot to his feet.

"You dare coerce my children into helping you?" he thundered. Percy shot him a sharp grin, all teeth and no warmth. The king of the gods flinched and gripped his master bolt tightly at his side.

"Nope, this is all me," Percy replied.

"How?" Poseidon asked shakily. Annabeth met the sea god's gaze evenly.

"Percy's always been this strong. After all, why else would you all tread so carefully around him all of these years?" Percy snorted.

"Less treading lightly and more wouldn't leave me alone." He kept his gaze on Zeus. "I'm assuming you thought by paying me more attention, I'd feel important to Olympus and wouldn't betray you when the time came. Problem is, I'm not stupid, and just because you all were up in _my_ business didn't mean you paid your actual kids any attention."

"We've had difficult lives. Percy, however, adapts far quicker and far stronger than anyone else I know," Annabeth continued. "We figured out that his powers extend far past mere hydrokinesis. After all, what point is there in being the son of someone called the Stormbringer and the Earthshaker without being able to do just that himself?"

The sky had darkened noticeably by this point. Dark clouds formed over the area, and a chill wind blew across the beach from the sea. The sand started to shift erratically. The waves hit the shoreline just a bit harder. Zeus' eyes hardened, muted fear evident for those who dare meet his gaze.

"I knew inviting the immortal side of the family to this would get messy," Percy commented.

"Shut up, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth retorted.

"Anything for you, Wise Girl."

"You've overstayed your welcome here, I believe," Annabeth said. She felt a strange surge of power well up within her. " _Begone, immortals. Do not return here._ "

Athena's eyes widened drastically before she flashed away. The rest of the Olympians followed right behind. Wind gusted out from around Annabeth, washing over the setup for the wedding and dissipating once it passed the outer seats. Percy closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, and the ominous skies cleared. As the temperature rose again with the return of the sun, Annabeth grasped Percy's hand and returned to the altar. Chiron looked at them warily as they retook their spots. Grover gave Percy's shoulder a pat, and Thalia gave Annabeth a brief hug. The bride was grimly amused at the fact that their bridal parties hadn't moved from their spots during the confrontation.

As Annabeth turned back to Percy and took his hands, he leaned in towards her. "Are you aware that you were speaking what I think was Egyptian?" he asked in a whisper. Annabeth blinked, surprised, and shook her head. "Carter and Sadie looked like they were going to have to scrape their jaws off the ground," he continued with a grin.

"We'll ask them about my stuff later," she replied, "but let's get married first." Percy beamed at her and she felt her remaining irritation melt away at the expression. They straightened up, Percy adjusted his tie, and they turned expectantly to Chiron.

The centaur cleared his throat. "Well… that is to say…" he cleared his throat again. "Let us try again. Today is a day of celebration…"


	13. Chapter 13

_Characters belong to Rick Riordan._

* * *

 **13 - Percy**

After the whole Annabeth disowning her mother fiasco, Percy thought the wedding actually went pretty well. Their guests had calmed down as the ceremony went on, though Percy never built up the courage to look at his mom. He couldn't bear the thought that he might have scared her.

So instead, he focused his attention on Annabeth. He remembered every adventure they had had over the years. He thanked the Fates that they at least gave him her love. That enough balanced out most of the crap they had put him through, in his opinion.

After the ceremony was done (and yes, he had kissed Annabeth longer than was strictly necessary just to annoy Thalia), they had rearranged the chairs and pulled out some tables and magic tableware from Camp for the reception. The sky had remained nice and clear, and the sun was comfortably warm. The food was delicious, of course, and as the music had been turned up and people started to enjoy the party atmosphere a bit more, he and Annabeth had sat off to the side to catch their breath for a moment or two.

"How are you holding up, Mrs. Jackson?" Percy asked. Annabeth huffed and rolled her eyes at him good-naturedly.

"Don't make me regret losing the Chase name, Seaweed Brain," she replied. Her grin took the bite out of her words, and Percy smiled back at her softly.

"Honestly, I'm kinda surprised that you did." At his wife's look, he hastened to explain himself. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm super honored and stuff, but I always thought you were more of a screw-the-system, I-do-what-I-want kind of girl."

Annabeth snorted in amusement. "Seriously?" She shook her head. "Dork. I took your name because _you're_ my family. You know my background with dad and them, my runaway gang abandoned each other, but you? You have _always_ been there for me. I've been more of a Jackson than a Chase for a while now."

Percy felt his eyes prickle with tears as he gave Annabeth a watery smile before latching on to her with a hug. He felt more than heard her grumble about him being a big sap and getting tears on her dress, and he gave a watery chuckle as he pulled back.

"I thought your parents were supposed to be the ones crying today," a familiar voice cut in. Percy turned around to see Grover walking up to them with a huge smile on his face. Percy half stood and pulled his best friend in for a hug once he was in range, sitting back as Annabeth pulled the satyr away for her own hug.

"I'm sure my mom has a couple of times already," Percy answered. Grover pulled up a nearby chair and sat across from the couple. "After all, I am her kid, and with as much as _I've_ cried today, I'm sure she's a wreck."

"Dude, you've made _me_ cry today. I always forget how strong your emotions are." Grover shrugged, then changed the topic. "So, I know you guys said not to do anything super fancy for wedding gifts…"

"Oh gods," Annabeth muttered, "please tell me you didn't coerce some poor dryad into becoming a decoration our lawn?"

Grover laughed. "No, nothing that drastic. Besides, Juniper helped, and there's no way she'd stand for something like that."

Percy grinned. "I can imagine her being upset. I'm a little surprised, though; I always thought you two would tie the knot before us." Annabeth rolled her eyes as Grover blushed slightly.

"What can I say, nature spirits move slowly," their satyr friend responded.

"Yeah, but-"

"No, Percy," Annabeth cut him off. "What did you want to tell us, Grover?" Percy made a face at her and she covered it with her hand, still looking at her friend. Grover chuckled again.

"Well, with some of Juniper's help, and a whole lot of nature magic, we grew you this." Grover reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out… a pinecone. Percy looked at his best man in confusion. He knew that there was more to what he was seeing than meets the eye, the pride coming across their empathy link gave that away, but he couldn't figure out what it was supposed to be.

Annabeth also looked confused, and after a moment, she looked back to Grover from the pinecone. "What is it?"

"It's the beginnings of a new Thalia Pine."

Percy blinked and shifted his weight forward. "You found a way to get seeds from Thalia's tree? I don't know if I'm more touched or weirded out." Grover reddened and Annabeth pushed Percy's face to the side.

"Well, I know how much her tree came to mean back at Camp, so I figured it'd be a way to remember us all if you ever moved out from New Athens. Also, since her tree is magical, wherever this is planted will also grow a protective border like the one at Camp."

Percy smiled at his friend as Annabeth pulled Grover in for another hug. "Nostalgic _and_ practical. You do know us." He pulled Grover in for a hug as well after Annabeth released him. "Seriously, thanks, dude. This is awesome."

The three talked for a bit more before Juniper came over and dragged Grover away for a dance. The newlyweds considered getting up to follow them, but before they could, Sally and Paul came over to congratulate them. Percy tried to hide his nerves as he read him mom's expression as she joined them.

"Oh, my babies," she cooed as she pulled both Percy and Annabeth into a hug. "I knew this day would happen eventually. I'm so happy for both of you."

"Thanks, Sally," Annabeth said. Sally just _tsked_ at her.

"As glad as I am you finally got that, I believe it's 'mom', now. You're officially family now!" Sally said brightly. Annabeth gave her a shaky smile. Sally noticed and started to backtrack. "Of course, I get that's probably not comfortable with the whole showdown from earlier, I just figured-"

"I'm honored," Annabeth said thickly, "just more surprised than I should be."

"Oh hun." Sally pulled Annabeth in for another hug as Paul turned to Percy.

"Congratulations, Percy. I know I haven't been part of this family for long, but I've gotten to see you conquer the impossible again and again. To reach this point?" Paul shook his head. "You two have always been remarkable. I'm proud to call you my son, if only by law."

It was Percy's turn to be choked up. He swallowed his tears and pulled Paul into a tight hug. "Thanks dad," he whispered around his tears. "That means a lot more than I can say." Paul pat him on the back and help him until he had his emotions under control again. As he pulled away, his mom chuckled.

"Look at us. Bunch of watery fools." She shook her head ruefully. Annabeth snorted and Percy grinned.

"Eh, could be worse," he replied. "At least it's not raining."

"Pretty sure we're just as wet as is," Annabeth muttered. Sally however, met his eye with a serious expression. Percy gulped nervously.

"Speaking of storms," she started slowly, "care to explain what happened earlier?"

"What's there to say? The gods tried to cause a mess. We took care of the problem," Percy answered bitterly. Sally raised an eyebrow and Percy sighed, waving towards Annabeth to explain.

"There were a couple of times during the second Gigantomachy that Percy pushed his powers past basic hydrokinesis. We thought that they were one time things brought on by stress, but there were a few times after our engagement that those powers resurfaced."

"What kind of powers?" Paul interrupted.

"Uh, the first really different one was controlling poison," Percy replied. "Tears, too. There was a time before we fought grandpa though that I controlled the Lethe, and during our escape from the Pit I used water from all five rivers against the monsters."

Paul blinked, surprised. "I thought the five rivers were uncontrollable?"

"Yeah, well, I'm not good at following the rules." Sally rolled her eyes and motioned for Annabeth to continue.

"Anyways, I thought it would be interesting and potentially useful to see what other powers Percy could develop. Poseidon is known as the Stormbringer, after all, so Percy theoretically would have access to more than just water."

"So at this point," Percy took over, "not only do I have the hydro-whatever and the earthquake powers, but lighting, wind, and ice powers."

"All of which you saw when he was putting Athena in her place," Annabeth finished.

Percy's parents took a moment to let the new information to sink in while he looked around the reception. He grinned when he saw Thalia harassing Nico and Will, the blush on the son of Hades bright even from a distance. He focused back as his mom started to talk.

"Well, I'd tell you to be more careful of angering the gods, but at this point…" she trailed off and shrugged. "I don't approve of their lack of parenting skills, but I don't want you two causing unnecessary fights."

"Believe me," Annabeth replied bitterly, "this fight was completely necessary. She's been against us since before we got together and she refused to shut up about it. If she can't get over it, she can hit the road."

"Just be careful," Paul insists. "We care about you two." Percy nodded and Annabeth smiled before changing the topic. They talked a bit, laughing at stories of Estelle's mischief, when Fredrick came over.

"Sorry to interrupt," he said by way of greeting.

"Not at all!" Sally replied cheerfully. "We can't hog them all evening." She gave the newlyweds one more hug before standing and turning to Annabeth's dad.

"I realize we've never really been around each other, but you're family now, too. You ever want to visit New York, you're more than welcome to stay with us." Fredrick blinked at the offer before smiling.

"That's very kind of you. Thank you." Sally nodded, then grabbed Paul's hand and waved goodbye as she dragged him off somewhere else. Fredrick smiled at the two demigods and took one of the newly vacated seats. "So, what's the cry count?"

"Eighteen," Annabeth answered immediately. Her dad sighed with a grin.

"Well, the reception's not over yet. I could still be closer." Annabeth rolled her eyes and smiled at his reply. Percy looked between the two for a moment before realization dawned.

"Are you betting on how many times I cry today?!" Annabeth looked at him with faux innocence as Fredrick suddenly found the empty table nearest them very interesting.

"Now, why would we do something like that?" Annabeth asked. Percy stuck his tongue out at her and she laughed.

"Just for that, I'm gonna make sure I cry all over you next time," he threatened jokingly. Fredrick let out a chuckle at that before clearing his throat and adopting a more serious expression.

"I just wanted to say congratulations, and to thank you both. I know I wasn't the best parent when you were growing up, Annabeth." He paused to huff out a deprecatory breath. "Actually, I was a terrible father, but you grew up to be a beautiful young woman despite my inadequacies. And you, Percy, have been there for her since you two met, and I will be forever in your debt for helping to convince her to give me another chance."

Annabeth teared up and threw herself into her dad's arms while Percy blinked back tears and smiled at the father-daughter duo. After a moment of respecting their emotional vulnerability, he teased, "I thought _I_ was the one who was supposed to cry all day?"

Annabeth laughed wetly and slapped his knee. "Jerk." Percy shrugged, still grinning, and the two separated. "I'm glad we patched things up, dad. I'm sorry I held onto that anger for so long."

They spent a few more minutes talking, explaining to Mr. Chase that they were planning on staying in New Athens for the time being but would be sure to visit when they could. He promised that they'd keep a room open for them and not to worry about timing whenever they did come by before leaving to find the rest of his family. Percy and Annabeth held each other for a few moments in the solitude following, just enjoying each other's company. As they stood up to rejoin the festivities, Rachel glided over to them, her eyes glowing especially green. Percy groaned in annoyance. Before Rachel opened her mouth, Percy held up his hand in a motion for her to stop.

"Look, Pythia, today has been rough enough. Please save the prophesying for another day; I can't deal with it right now." The Oracle locked eyes with him for a few seconds before Rachel blinked, her eyes softening to their normal iridescence. She looked at the newlyweds in confusion.

"Didn't I already congratulate you?" she asked bluntly.

Percy shrugged. "You did, but you're hitch hiker hadn't. I told her to save it. Kinda surprised she actually listened." Rachel gave him an odd look before shaking her head and walking away, leaving the two demigods to stare after her retreating form.

"You know what? I don't even want to know." Annabeth decided. "Let's go dance." Percy grinned as his wife started to drag him to the clump of demigods starting to sing one of their crazy campfire songs.

The rest of the night passed in a blur of festivities. Percy laughing at Thalia's antics. Annabeth teasing him about winning her bet with her dad when he cried for the 24th time. Percy trying to smash her in the face with cake, failing, and smashing Grover instead. Making small talk with Nico and Will. Dancing with his mom, watching Annabeth dance with her dad as they both held watery smiles. Sally and Paul heading out when Estelle fell asleep in Clarisse's arms (Percy had laughed a lot at the daughter of Ares' panicked expression). By the time the newlyweds dragged themselves away from the party and back to their home, they were both ready to drop out of exhaustion.

As Annabeth stacked the last of their wedding presents to be opened in the morning, a pop was heard as a blue letter appeared on their table. She looked at Percy, who frowned, coming up behind her to stare at the letter over her shoulder.

"Your dad's?" she asked.

"Yeah. Don't know what it would be; I assumed we wouldn't get anything from Olympus." Percy reached around her and picked up the letter. It didn't feel heavy enough to hold anything more than a note, but Percy supposed that was typical for Poseidon. He shrugged, pulling away from Annabeth so she could face him as he opened it. As he pulled out the single sheet of paper, pressed neatly and smelling of brine, he raised an eyebrow. "Wow, he actually wrote full sentences this time."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "What does it say, Seaweed Brain?"

"Patience, Wise Girl." He stuck his tongue out at his wife, who rolled her eyes again and snatched the letter out of his hand. "Hey!" She spun back around and pressed her back to his stomach as she read, Percy looking over her shoulder again to also see the note. What he read made him equal parts thankful and irritable.

"As glad as I am that your father swore on the Styx never to harm me, I'm a bit concerned that an oath like that was even necessary," Annabeth quipped. Percy snorted and tossed the letter aside.

"Like any of the Olympians actually care about keeping their oaths, no matter what they make them on." He held her tightly for a moment, taking in the scent of her lemon shampoo, which somehow stayed with her the whole day. He relaxed as he pulled away and smiled at his partner in life. "But today was too good to wallow in self-pity, and we're both too tired to plan contingencies, so I vote we sleep and worry about it later."

Annabeth laughed and kissed him lightly. "Well said, husband." Percy grinned and kissed her again, slowly this time. They pulled apart and rested their foreheads together, just taking in the events of the day. "Thanks for building something permanent with me."

"Thanks for thinking I'm good enough to be allowed," Percy responded. Thoughts of Olympus put aside for the night, the demigods headed to bed, content in what they had achieved with each other.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N Hello! I'm sorry for the long wait; I'm not the greatest at balancing all of my projects. I'm hoping to update all of my stories this week for sure once, probably twice, hopefully more. I'm excited for the next few chapters in this story - the plot is going to start picking up more! As always, thanks to those of you who reviewed/PM'd since the last update - it means a lot to know you guys like what you're reading and that you care enough to critique and remind me to actually post.**

 _Characters from the books belong to Rick Riordan._

* * *

 **14 - Percy**

Percy wiped the sweat off his brow as he looked between the nearest approaching monsters, trying to decide which was the biggest threat. After what felt like minutes but was really seconds, he shrugged and slashed his sword in front of him. A couple dozen ice shards formed in front of him, all the size of his forearm and sharp as knives, and sprayed towards the front line of the monster army, slicing the nearest monsters to ribbons and leaving frost burns on those not immediately destroyed. He nodded his head and retreated a dozen or so yards as the monsters regrouped, looking ahead to see how far Annabeth and the demigod they were rescuing had gotten. He cursed at how close they were before running to catch up.

"Why are there so many monsters after this kid?" He asked as he drew near. Annabeth glanced at him, then shifted her gaze around to examine the army behind them.

"Catch your breath, Richie," she said calmly. The young demigod they were escorting back to Camp Half-Blood leaned down to brace his hands on his knees. As the fourteen year old son of Hephaestus caught his breath, Percy joined Annabeth in scanning the army.

The horde following them was disorganized, but massive. Dozens of dracaena made up the front lines, followed by cyclopes and a handful of empousai. Hellhounds milled about the group, sometimes rushing ahead towards the demigods, sometimes falling behind, distracted by the strange scents other monsters gave off. Percy made a quick head count, and assuming there weren't any multiheaded monsters this time, figured there were easily around two hundred monsters on their tail. The beasts made a sparse column a kilometer long and a quarter as wide.

"Why do you think there's so many after this one demigod?" Annabeth wondered. Percy blinked.

"I _had_ assumed they were mostly because of us, but you're right, they did almost beat us to the kid," he replied. Percy turned to preteen. "What did your mom tell you about your dad?"

"Not a whole lot," Richard replied. He stood up straight, wincing and rubbing his left thigh as he did. "He couldn't stay, he was super crafty, not very good with people but she thought that it made him cute." The demigod made a face. "I can't say I disbelieve he was a god after seeing what's chasing us, but still… Seems like someone with that much power would be able to stick around a bit longer."

Percy snorted. "Welcome to the mythological world. Our parents at best wish us a happy birthday once before we die. Usually not."

"Focus, Percy," Annabeth chided, ignoring the slight rumble of thunder. Her gaze never left the monsters slowly catching up. "Anything else, Richie?" He frowned, thinking.

"She mentioned once how she met dad through his brother… She didn't talk about my uncle much. I guess he and dad didn't get along? I'm not sure, sorry."

Percy turned and met Annabeth's gaze before closing his eyes tiredly and groaning. "Please tell me you thought of some other son of Hera that dislikes machinery?"

"No, sorry," Annabeth replied. "That does explain why these monsters are so unorganized, though. They don't have much of a commander." Thunder rumbled at her statement, making her smirk.

"But why would Ares focus so much on this specific rival kid?" Percy wondered. "Ares may be dumb, but he's usually got a reason behind what he's doing."

Annabeth thought hard for a moment. Percy waved a lazy hand towards the monsters as she did, throwing a gust of wind that blew the leading line back some yards. Richard looked warily at the approaching horde, obviously nervous but trusting the two veteran demigods to get him to safety.

"Maybe…" Annabeth said slowly, "your mom met Ares first. They flirted for a bit, but something turned your mom off to the war god. Hephaestus, seeing a chance to tick off his brother, swoops in and steals the girl, and now Ares wants revenge." Percy rolls his eyes while Richard looks horrified.

"You're telling me I only exist as payback?" he asked, voice strained. Percy looked back at him sympathetically.

"If it makes you feel any better, the first time I met my dad he said that he wished he hadn't been born."

"What he means to say," Annabeth cuts in with a glare to her husband, "is that there's plenty of us who've gone through similar unpleasant realizations. Your mom obviously still loves you for you, and your siblings and the rest of camp will take you in no problem. We're all family."

"Literally," Percy comments. "Kinda hurts to think about sometimes, but-" He grunts as Annabeth digs an elbow into his gut.

"Less talking, more delaying monsters," she gripes. "We've got to get back to moving. We're too close to mortal civilization to risk any earthquakes, but you might try slowing them down with some snow."

Percy grinned at her and made a shooing motion with his hand. "Go on; I'm right behind you."

Annabeth and Richard started running again, and Percy turned back towards the monsters, hefting his sword higher. As the nearest clump of monsters reached him, he felt himself slip into autopilot, slashing and spinning and generally causing chaos. He parried the sword of a dracaena, redirecting the blade to slash into another monster before spinning into the monster's guard and cutting it in half. He rolled into a summersault from there to avoid a cyclops' club, leaping over a charging hellhound and blasting the empousa behind it with lightning. Snow and hailstones stared to while around him, deflecting a couple of stray arrows and denting the armor of any monster that drew too close. The temperature dropped around him, leather armor creaking and the breath of a dozen monsters condensing into clouds of steam and fumes.

With one final flourish, he finished off the last cyclops and was turning to look back at the oncoming army when his instincts screamed at him. He threw himself backwards, barely avoiding the massive sword that swung through the space his neck was just in. Percy continued back, rolling into a back handspring and landing on the balls of his feet about ten yards back from where he started, sword at the ready in front of him and eyes on his new opponent.

"I gotta hand it to you, punk," Ares drawled, "you always make for an interesting fight. Annoying, but interesting."

"Finally gave up on trusting the monsters to do your dirty work?" Percy snapped. He hoped Annabeth was paying enough attention to notice the god. He knew he was good, but he wasn't good enough to delay a god and an army of monsters by himself. _Well, not yet, at least_.

"Look, the kid has to die," Ares said.

Percy felt a wave of anger roll over him that had nothing to do with the war god's aura. "What, you didn't get laid so you have to kill someone to feel better? Seriously? I know you gods are selfish, but that takes it to a whole new level." Thunder rumbled and Ares glared at him.

"As much as I hate dear old brother, you're right. Normally, I wouldn't go to this much effort for revenge. This is beyond that. I'm merely following Olympus' will."

"Oh, cause that's so much better," Percy bit out. He cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders before lifting Riptide up to point at the god. "You going to explain what's actually going on, or are we just going to start the rematch?"

Ares laughed, a grating sound that conveyed more ill-intent than humor. "I think I might actually miss our banter in a century or two." The god shifted his grip on his sword and sprung towards Percy, much faster than any mortal would be able to see. Percy shifted to the right, just enough for the blade to miss as he stabbed forward, piercing the god lightly in the arm before skipping back out of range.

"That makes three immortals in the last few months who have attacked first. What happened to those precious divine laws that you always hide behind?" Ares growled and attacked again, and Percy was forced into silence as he concentrated on the fight. The demigod's focus narrowed to the fight. Swing, parry, dodge, stab, repeat. His body almost on autopilot, senses straining for the merest edge up on his opponent. Ares was fighting harder than he had the last two times, and Percy was tired from the constant fighting and running he had already done.

He held off the god for a half hour before something went wrong. As he parried a blow from Ares, pushing the god's blade to the side, the god suddenly stepped back, retreating out of range. Percy looked at him in bewilderment. Ares just smirked.

"Looks like you lose," he mocked, pointing ahead. Percy turned to see what Ares meant and paled. Annabeth had fallen behind to delay the monsters that made it around Percy, leaving Richard to run ahead on his own. Annabeth was holding up fine, but at the moment there were more monsters than she could fight at once. Percy watched in horror as a dracaena archer maneuvered around Annabeth and let loose an arrow. It sunk deep into Richard's side, the demigod screaming then coughing up blood as he collapsed.

Percy whirled around, furious, and Ares actually backed up a step. He clenched a fist and dozens of spears of ice materialized around him. He swung forward, but as the ice flew towards the god, Ares flashed away. Percy roared in anger. The temperature dropped below freezing in an instant, frost racing across the field in all directions. Annabeth glanced at him, looked back to Richard and swore, decapitating the empousa in front of her and racing towards the younger demigod's side.

As the remaining monsters turned to Percy, he lashed out. Frozen projectiles shot out towards the army, monsters trying and failing to avoid the onslaught. Within a few moments, the battlefield was covered in slush and golden dust. The temperature slowly returned to normal as Percy raced towards his wife and the fallen boy they were trying to escort.

Annabeth looked up when he approached and sadly shook her head. "The arrow punctured a lung. I can't pull it out or he'll choke on his own blood, but he can't breathe with it in, either. Ambrosia and nectar aren't going to work fast enough on their own, and we don't have a healer close enough to help." She blinked fiercely and turned away, trying to hold back her tears.

Percy thought furiously on any possible way to save Richard. "Could any amount of ice help slow stuff down?"

"Not without giving him frostbite, which would be worse." Annabeth held Richard's hand tightly as the kid fought to breath. "We're so sorry," she whispered.

"No." Percy started quiet, then got louder the more agitated he got. "No, no, no! I refuse to let this happen! Think, think, think!" He paced back and force for a minute before freezing. "I have an idea that might work."

Annabeth looked at him questioningly, but he just knelt by Richard's head for a moment. "Hey, kiddo, hang in there just a little longer. We promised we'd get you back, and we will." Richard groaned and tightened his grip on Annabeth's hand, not quite coherent through the pain.

Percy stood back up, pulling a drachma out and creating a veil of mist in front of him. "Fleecy, do me a solid. I need to talk to Nico." The mist shimmered for a moment before resolving into an image of Nico laughing at something Will was saying next to him. It looked like the two were in the infirmary at camp. Nico looked up and grinned at his cousin.

"Hey Percy, what's up?" The son of Hades frowned as he noticed the state Percy was in. "You don't look too good."

"Hi, long story, I need your help like now," Percy rushed out. "You need to shadow travel with Will out to us; we've got a new demigod bleeding out due to an arrow through his lung and we've no chance of healing him without your help."

Nico blanched and Will leaned forward seriously. "We'll grab my stuff, but I can't promise we'll be able to save them, Perce."

Percy shook his head violently. "We can, just get out here quick." He swiped his hand through the message before they could argue with him and knelt at the son of Hephaestus' side.

"What are you planning, Percy?" Annabeth asked gently.

"Something probably super dangerous," he admitted. "Here's hoping no one's watching." He placed one hand over Richard's chest where his heart was pumping weakly, and another just below the arrow head sticking out of his ribs. He screwed his eyes shut and reached deep inside himself, searching for the liquids inside himself. The tug in his gut turned painful, and he felt the same feeling of something shattering deep within him, but he kept on pushing. With one final spasm, he felt the walls crash down, his mind flooded with information. He could feel the sap flowing sluggishly through the plants in the field around him, the water vapor in the air, the rolling acid in his stomach.

The blood leaking slowly from the boy in front of him.

He focused, willing the blood to circulate normally around the wound. He heard Annabeth's gasp of surprise as the blood raced back into Richard's body. It trickled around the arrow and through the gap the wound created, finding the arteries and veins it should be flowing through seemingly effortlessly. Percy began to sweat with the strain of this new control, silently pleading for Nico and Will to show up soon.

Percy heard the whoosh of shadow travel and the intake of breath from his friends, his attention wavering just for a second. Blood started to leak from the wound again. He cursed in his mind and tunneled his focus on this one task, literally willing his charge to stay alive. He screwed his eyes shut against the sweat dripping down his face. As he sensed Will reaching to remove the arrow, he shifted the boy's insides around, making sure the shaft and fletching couldn't damage anything else on its way out.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the wound began to close, and Percy let more and more of the blood flow naturally until finally it was done. With a last bit of nectar poured over the wound (which with his new awareness glowed with barely restrained energy), it closed up, and Percy released his control completely with a gasp. The weariness and aching he had been ignoring crashed into him, and he groaned, falling heavily onto his rear before lying down completely. His ears rang, and he didn't bother to try opening his eyes against the dizziness that swept through him.

Will (at least, he assumed it was Will) pressed a square of ambrosia against his lips. He shakily opened his mouth to swallow the godly food. The worst of the nausea and aching melted away, though he still felt like his insides went through a blender. He cracked his eyes open as a hand ran through his hair to see Annabeth kneeling next to him. He tried to smile to ease the worry he could see on her face but it came out as a grimace.

"You're too heroic for your own good, you know," she said shakily.

"What can I say," he replied. "I'm a sucker for underdogs."

Annabeth scoffed, but grinned at him. "You're a dork."

"Yeah, but you picked me and so now you're stuck with me." He sighed dramatically. "I know, it's unfair, but I suppose you'll just have to manage." He grinned as she chuckled at his antics.

With a groan, he sat up. His head swam for a moment and he pressed his hand against his forehead until it settled. Will looked at him in concern through his own fatigue. Nico looked a mix between concern and awe. Percy glanced to the side, where Richard lay unconscious but whole. The blood soaked arrow lay next to him in the grass.

"So, Percy," Nico started, "since when can you blood-bend?" He glanced around for a bit. "Actually, since when can you do anything other than water?"

"What, you don't think the scorch marks are me?" Annabeth said with false insult. Nico made a face at her and turned back to Percy expectantly.

He hesitated for a moment, then sighed. "What's the worst thing you've ever done with your powers, Nico?" Will immediately looked angry, but Nico waved him down before he could say anything. His gaze never left the son of Poseidon as he thought carefully.

"I turned a traitor into a ghost and wiped his name from existence," he eventually answered, "and I feel more guilt about the fact that I _should_ feel guilty for that brutality than I do for the act itself." Annabeth and Will looked at him warily, but Percy knew it was more out of concern _for_ him than _of_ him.

"I almost drowned the goddess of misery in her own poison and tears," Percy admitted. "I wanted her to feel as miserable as she made everyone else." Nico blinked in surprise. Will snapped his gaze over to Annabeth to confirm Percy's words, then looked back to the son of Poseidon.

"Tartarus makes you stronger, but it also twists you," Nico agreed with Percy's unspoken sentiment. "You got better, but you didn't want the extra powers, did you?"

"Gods no." Percy shuddered. "I thought what I had before was plenty terrifying. But now? I can control water with tremendous accuracy, I can vaporize monsters with currents of electricity on par with Thunderpants' lightning, winds and storms the likes of which send mortals running in terror. Poison control, and that's at best tenuously connected to my powers. Ice storms stronger than anything Khione could summon." He took a shaky breath. "Now this? All the fluids in every living thing, I could rip out with a snap of my fingers. I could become a master puppeteer and control all of your actions. Monster giving you a hard time? Just boil its blood!"

"But would you?" Nico interrupted.

"Of course not!" Percy denied.

"Then you need to not worry so much," Nico said calmly. "You can do amazing things, yes, but your first instinct is always to use them for good."

"You literally developed the blood bending just to help Richard," Annabeth cut in.

"Yeah, exactly – wait, what?" Nico looked at Annabeth in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"A lot of those powers he's developed were conscious decisions in the moment," Annabeth explained. "So – and correct me if I'm wrong, hun – he looked at his situation, tried to figure out some way to possibly save it, latched onto the fact that the biggest problem was Richard bleeding and decided to stop it."

Will looked at Percy in astonishment. "That's incredible."

Percy just shrugged, embarrassed. "The point still stands, the gods have been wary for a while. This? This might just push them over the edge."

"How long did it take them to notice the other stuff?" Will asked.

Percy thought for a moment, then rubbed the back of his head. "Well, actually, now that I say it, I don't think they knew about it until I used a bunch of my powers to restrain my mother-in-law at our wedding." He turned to Annabeth and made a face. "Ex-mother-in-law?"

"Cousin, technically?" Nico butted in. Percy made a face and Annabeth shuddered as Will laughed.

"The point is, as long as we're not talking about it in a place we know they'll hear, I think you'll be safe." Will grinned tiredly. "I might ask for your help occasionally in the med tent from here on out, but you can trust me not to tell anyone."

"Same here," Nico agreed. Percy breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thanks guys." He stood up and stretched, groaning at the ache in his muscles. "Now, let's get home. You got enough juice to bring us all, Nico? I doubt we should be walking that far with junior here after that whole incident."

The son of Hades thought for a moment before looking at Will. "If we try that balancing thing it should be fine."

"Alright. I trust you," Will responded.

Nico blushed at Will's statement and grabbed his hand. "You know the drill. Hold on tight or you'll be lost in the shadow realm and your soul will be lost forever blah blah blah." Percy snorted at the description. He made sure he had a good hold on Richard before joining hands with Annabeth. Nico and Will put their extra hands on the older couple's shoulders. "Ready?" Nico asked.

"Go for it," Percy answered. With a rush of air, shadows coalesced around the group and they vanished from the clearing.


	15. Chapter 15

_Characters belong to Rick Riordan._

* * *

 **15 - Nico**

With a bang, the group was thrown out of the shadows of a large tree, tumbling to a halt some yards away from where they emerged. Nico's head spun, and he heard Percy groan. "What happened, Nico?"

"I'm not sure," he admitted, shaking his head to clear it. "It felt like the shadows… I don't know, shifted?" Nico frowned, trying to find the right words to describe the sensation. Normally, shadow travel felt like hurtling through a void at breakneck speeds. Dangerous, yes, but usually under control with Will helping him. This time though, it had felt more like a chariot with someone else at the reigns, whipping around corners and generally being a poor driver.

"Where are we?" a voice he didn't recognize mumbled. Nico turned to see the new kid sitting up, Will kneeling beside him making sure he was okay. Percy was sprawled out on the ground a few feet away. Annabeth glanced around at the dense forest around them before looking up. Nico followed her gaze, but the thick foliage blocked any sight of the sky. Sunlight broke through in sparse beams scattered around the area, letting in enough light for them to know it was still day, but not enough to tell the time.

"Not sure yet," Annabeth answered the kid. "The climate feels the same, so we can't be too far north or south. Lots of oak trees, so still probably somewhere in eastern North America." She turned to Percy. "I wish I knew that locator spell Carter was talking about. We could use it to find Mr. D and then camp from there."

"Wouldn't we need a map for that?" Percy asked. He groaned as he finally stood up and stretched.

"Theoretically, yeah, but we could probably get away with drawing a basic one in the dirt," Annabeth replied. "Do you sense any water nearby?" Percy closed his eyes for a couple of seconds. He blinked, then frowned and turned away.

"It feels like ocean this way. Hard to tell how far; this place is screwing with my sense of distance." He paused. "Also, if I had to bet, I'd say it's the Atlantic. Possibly even Long Island Sound."

"So we're right by camp?" Will asked surprised.

"We must be," Annabeth pondered, "but I don't know of any woods this thick so close. Maybe we could-"

"Hold up a second," Nico interrupted. The others all turned their eyes to him. "I'm very lost. Who's the kid, what location spell could you possibly do, and does anyone have any idea _how_ we got here before we start trying to find a way _out_?" Percy and Annabeth glanced at each other for a moment.

"My name's Richard, but people usually call me Richie," the younger kid volunteered. "My dad's Hephaestus, apparently." Nico nodded at him. He looked to be about fourteen, maybe fifteen. It was always hard to tell with Hephaestus kids, given how bulky they usually were.

"Nico, son of Hades," Nico introduced himself. "The blonde who helped patch you up is Will, son of Apollo."

"And his boyfriend," Will cut in, "since apparently he won't say it."

Nico shrugged and smirked. "Didn't think it was important enough right now. He'd have figured it out." Will gaped at him, then scoffed.

"Don't you try to pull dark, spooky, and unemotional with _me_. I know better." Nico blushed slightly and turned back to Annabeth.

"Anyways," he said. "Location spell?"

Annabeth grimaced. "We had a run in with some Egyptian monsters a few years ago. Had to team up with some magicians from another pantheon to take down a megalomaniac and prevent apocalypse number three. We've kept in touch."

Will blinked in confusion. "Wait, another _pantheon_? You met other _gods_?"

Percy started to shake his head, then paused. "Well, technically, yeah. Nekbeht possessed me for the final battle, and Walt is currently Anubis' host in the mortal world." He shuddered. "I would not recommend that. It feels gross." Nico saw Will mouth possessed to himself before shaking his head in amazement.

"While we're on the subject, my cousin is a Norse demigod," Annabeth added. "Son of Frey, so he's got similar powers to you, Will."

"Sure, why not," Will muttered. "Even more craziness. I don't know how you two get dragged into everything." Percy shrugged.

"So you can do Egyptian magic?" Nico asked, interest seizing his attention.

"Somehow," Annabeth answered with a nod.

"That's not normal," Nico stressed. "Hazel's good at mist magic, but the few times I've had her try other magicks, nothing's happened."

Annabeth looked at him curiously. "You've met other pantheons, too?"

"The Afterlife is a small place," Nico admitted. "You tend to run into more than the average demigod. _Our_ gods swore an oath of isolation a few millennia ago. Something about some cross-pantheon prophecy that had them scared."

 _Future turning, worlds are burning_

Nico's head whipped up. "Did you hear that?" Percy was scanning the depths of the forest around them. Will had his arm around Richie, while Annabeth had her hand on her sword hilt.

 _Darkest hour, blood red power_

Nico's gaze snapped to Percy, whose expression hardened at the words. Nico shivered at his intensity.

 _Mixing magic, curses tragic_

Finally, Nico noticed a small wind chime hanging in the branches of the tree whose shadow they popped out of. His eyes widened as he watched the branches move without wind. Instead of the jingling bell sounds he expected, they heard another set of words.

 _Righteous fury, final jury_

"Who are you?" Nico called out. The leaves on the trees rustled, but no voices responded. Nico turned to the others. "The voices were coming from those chimes."

Will frowned. "I don't remember any stories about talking instruments…"

"And the only talking trees I know are dryads," Percy chipped in.

Nico reached out to the shadows between the trees, trying to sense if anything was hiding among them. For a long moment, the shade was empty. Suddenly, something appeared in the shadows. He flinched at the suddenness and fumbled to draw his sword. The others fell into formation, Percy and Annabeth covering his right and back with Will to his left and Richie in the middle of the group. Weapon held high, Nico tried to get a sense of whatever was coming towards them.

He blinked in surprise at the tawny lioness that emerged from the trees. It blinked at him, golden eyes gleaming supernaturally. It seemed unconcerned with the demigods before it. Nico cautiously lowered his sword. The lioness met his gaze for a moment. As it turned to walk back where it came from, it paused, looking back at the group with an air of impatience. Nico relaxed slightly and sheathed his sword.

"Pretty sure it just wants us to follow it," Nico explained to the others. Percy grunted.

"With eyes like those, it's definitely a familiar to some deity," the son of Poseidon grumbled. He capped his sword but held the pen in his hand. Annabeth likewise kept her sword out, though she lowered it to appear less aggressive. Nico nodded and lead the group after the lioness. As they weaved through the trees, the forest got thicker and the trunks larger. Nico assumed they were headed deeper into the forest, but he didn't have any idea why.

When they finally cleared the trees and entered a clearing, Nico gaped at the massive tree in the middle. The trunk was wide enough at the base that his whole cabin could be hidden within it, and the canopy stretched far above the other trees. Nico could make out thousands of chimes hung among the branches, each glittering with movement in the false twilight of the deep forest.

At the base of the tree Nico could see the lioness greet a second one of its kind, which lay beside a women who stood watching them. Her hair was dark, and curled gracefully over her shoulders, framing her face and making her bright green eyes stand out even more. Nico glanced at Percy out of the corner of his eye, amazed at how close in looks he was to the woman. As they cautiously drew near, the woman smiled brightly, and Nico could feel a wave of calming energy sweep over him.

"Who are you?" he asked. "Why have you brought us here?" Her eyes seemed to pierce through him as she met his gaze, and he shivered slightly despite the calm she was emanating.

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you don't recognize me," she replied. Her tone was light, as if she hoped for an air of nonchalance but wasn't quite feeling it herself. "My children so often refuse to share their knowledge."

"Lady Rhea, I presume," Annabeth said. The acknowledged titaness beamed at her.

"Correct, my dear. I'm so glad to finally meet you, Annabeth." Annabeth froze at her words, and Nico could see Percy tense as Rhea's gaze landed on him. "You as well, Perseus. I'm glad someone finally got my eyes. My, you _are_ a spitting image of your father."

"Why did you bring us here, my lady?" Nico asked again.

"I did not," Rhea denied. "I felt you land in my grove and was curious. No demigod has graced my sanctuary in centuries."

"Your sanctuary?" Will asked. Rhea spread her arms wide.

"The Grove of Dodona," she replied. "I planted these oaks before humanity even existed, and they have long helped guide those who seek their wisdom."

"I thought Emperor Nero burnt your grove down," Annabeth said cautiously. Rhea frowned.

"He certainly tried, my dear. I was able to save the innermost part of the grove from destruction, and have spent much of my time promoting its regrowth." She pursed her lips and furrowed her eyebrows in thought. "You say you don't know how you ended up here?"

"No," Nico answered. "I was trying to shadow travel us back to Camp Half-Blood. Something went wrong; I'm not sure what."

"Perhaps…" Rhea trailed off, eyes unfocused. She stood still for a moment before her eyes refocused and zeroed in on Percy and Annabeth. "Have you ever heard about something called the Great Union?" The trees shuddered at her words, the wind rippling through the glade excitedly.

"Nope," said Percy with a sigh. "I'm assuming it's some sort of prophecy?"

"It is," Rhea confirmed. "I know you have not had much luck with those in the past. Why Apollo's oracles insist on so much drama is beyond me." Will snorted with amusement. Nico looked back at him and smirked at the faux innocent face he put on.

"What is the Great Union?" Annabeth asked. With a rush, wind swirled up and around the great tree, the chimes shaking furiously. Voices filled the clearing, rasping and groaning like branches in a storm. Nico clutched his head at the cacophony, the voices echoing around the clearing. With a start, it was silent again.

Then the great tree spoke.

 ** _There once was a Great Union of two_**

 ** _Who connected all things old and new._**

 ** _Their questing unfurled_**

 ** _The end of the world_**

 ** _From which balanced creation grew._**

The wind receded and the trees gradually stopped shaking. Nico struggled with a moment of vertigo and fell to his knees, catching himself before he face planted into the earth. He heard Will and Richie struggling behind him. Percy and Annabeth stayed standing, but given their paleness and trembling limbs, Nico was afraid they'd fall any second as well.

"That prophecy," Rhea began slowly, "as well as its many, _many_ related prophecies, is why our pantheon isolates itself. The mention of a Great Union is found in practically _every_ pantheon if you dig deep enough. Some offer more details. Some less. No prophecy contains the full picture, but what we _could_ piece together was enough to make even _my_ mother wary."

"So this is it?" Percy responded, voice strained. "The final threat? The one to finally end it all?"

Rhea eyed him carefully. "I do not have the answer to that. Seer I may be, but the paths to the future are many."

"Guys," Nico interjected. He flinched at the hollowness in his friends' gazes as they turned to him. "We don't know enough yet to start worrying. The last two lines contradict themselves, and while I can appreciate the natural elements of this oracle, Rachel usually gives us a little more information. If it's really a big deal, we should consult with her as well."

Annabeth turned to Percy suddenly. "At our wedding, you remember what happened with her?" Percy's eyes narrowed in thought and he nodded slowly.

"That's right; the oracle took her over and started to speak to us."

"But you asked it not to and it actually _listened_. What if it was going to tell us _this_ prophecy – or at least its sister prophecy – but didn't because it's so important that we needed to really be on board before hearing it?"

"You speak of the oracle of Delphi, yes?" Rhea asked. Percy nodded. "That oracle was the only one of Apollo's to refuse the subject when asked. Other prophecies hint that it's the last prophecy Delphi will ever give."

Silence fell over the group as they realized just how important this Great Union was. Nico swallowed roughly and met Rhea's expectant gaze.

"You think this Great Union will be here soon?" he asked.

Rhea looked back at Percy and Annabeth solemnly. "I think it's already here."


End file.
